From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Business Brief - Tuesday April 8 2008
By h.b.
Apr 8, 2008 - 1:11 PM
The Bank of Spain has said that more problems will be on the way for the banking sector if the crisis continues. The warning comes despite the fact that there is no sub-prime mortgage market in Spain. The BBVA bank has estimated that growth this year will reach only 1.9% and that employment will be lost here next year.
J.P. Morgan has also said that the financing of banks in certain circumstances is not sustainable. They are forecasting more problems for the sector in the long term, arising from credit tensions and their exposure to the failing real estate market.
The real estate services company of La Caixa, Servihabitat, has moved into the red according to their latest report for last year.
They ended the year 3.62 million in the red.
The CEOE employers association in Spain is to ask the government to move forward with a mixed system of pensions. They want the state to guarantee a minimum level of pensions and the rest be taken over by the private sector. The idea has already been rejected by the unions.
The savings rate in Spanish homes fell by two tenths of a point over last year to now stand at 10.3% of income. Savings reached 68.9 billion €, which united to transfers of 4.4 billion led to the banks and public administration increasing their capacity for financing.
However the numbers show that homes and non-financial companies earned less than they spent over the year, and also paid out a record amount in interest. The numbers show that the Spanish economy needs outside finance to the tune of 99.86 billion.
The year saw imports increase by 8.9% while exports were up 7.7%
Britain is investigating Spanish power company Iberdrola, for allegedly abusing their dominant position regarding their subsidiary Scottish Power and SEE and whether they have broken market competition laws for power generation. The complaint relates to alleged restrictions in capacity placed on their power grids.
Farmers and other agricultural associations in Spain have said that the controls on quality of beef in the country ensure that there is no risk of contagion with the human form of Mad Cow’s disease. They say the periodic inspections and tracking in place mean that the eating of beef in Spain is the safest there is. They have made the comments after two deaths were announced in the Castilla y León region yesterday, the second and third to be seen in Spain.
And finally,
Some good news – the price of mobile phone calls fell by 10% last year in Spain because of increased competition. The cost of MMS messages fell by more than 26%.