From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Business Brief - Tuesday June 10 2008
By h.b.
Jun 10, 2008 - 1:13 PM
The chaos on the roads of Spain because of a strike by some lorry drivers is set to get worse as more drivers associations say they will now join the stoppage, despite the appeals from the Government to keep working. Several associations which belong to the Spanish Confederation of Merchandise Transporters (CETM) say they will start strike action today including groups from Extremadura, Castilla La Mancha and Castilla y León. Other members of the association were reported yesterday to have accepted an agreement on new tariffs with the Government, but despite that the strike seems to be spreading.
Once again today the access roads to and out of all the large cities across the country has been complicated by groups of slow-moving lorries.
A new report from the consumers organisation FUNCAS has forecast that inflation will continue to rise and will reach a peak of 4.8% in August. However they think that inflation will fall back to 3.6% by December. If the FUNCAS figures prove accurate it means the annual rate for this year’s inflation in Spain will be 4.3% - a whole point higher than the official figure from the National Statistics Institute for last year, 3.3%.
Last week the Minister for Tax and the Economy, Pedro Solbes, admitted that inflation could reach as high as 5% if crude oil prices continued to rise, although he thought that inflation would be back down to 3.5% at the end of the year.
A study by the Manpower employment agency has shown that ten percent of company directors are thinking of reducing their workforce in the third quarter of the year.
Those whose businesses are in the power, gas and water sectors are more optimistic about the employment prospects, while those in mining and other industry are less positive about the outcome.
The Manpower study was an international one in 32 countries and only in Spain was the outlook for employment a negative one.
The Spanish Minister for Housing has announced temporary help for those who get divorced. Beatriz Corredor said that she wanted to help those recently divorced, especially those who had children in their care and said help would be given following a list of requirements. She was studying extending the help to others in need such as battered women. There is no time scale as yet for the introduction of the new ideas.
And the new Apple iphone2 will be sold by Telefónica in Spain from July 11. Movistar will be exclusive distributors for several years, and there will be a multitude of prices and offers for individuals and businesses. The company does say it intends to launch the phone with ‘very aggressive offers’ which will see the phone given away in some circumstances.
And finally,
The Banco Popular has announced that it is going to finance homes in Ecuador. It comes as a way of gaining more Ecuadorian clients here in Spain, and can only happen thanks to an association with the Banco de Guayaquil, the second largest bank in Ecuador.