elena salgado
October 6th, 2011
September is traditionally a time when summer contracts are terminated, and unemployment figures in Spain rose by 95,817, making a total of 4,226,744 people unemployed, an increase of 2.32%, according to Labour Ministry data and reported in El Mundo. Its the largest increase in unemployment experienced in the month of September ...
Continue reading Record Post-Summer Unemployment Rise
September 21st, 2011
Spain's economy is expanding slower than expected but the government is battling to boost activity and is not changing its 2011 targets, said Finance Minister Elena Salgado. The economy steadied in 2010 and grew 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2011, but not enough to make a large difference to ...
Continue reading Spanish Economy Targets “Are Not Changing”
August 23rd, 2011
Following the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Friday, Government Spokesman and Minister of Development, José Blanco, announced that the Spanish Government has decided to reduce VAT from 8% to 4% on the purchase of new housing, temporarily, until December 31. According to Blanco, this measure aims to ...
Continue reading Spanish Government Lowers VAT on New Homes
August 9th, 2011
The leaders of the euro zone central banks agreed on Sunday to intervene decisively in the markets in response to the escalating crisis, sparked off by debt problems in the USA. The European Central Bank (ECB) has already moved into action and is planning to buy Italian and Spanish debt, ...
Continue reading ECB Purchases Debt from Spain and Italy
June 21st, 2011
The Government's financial vice president, Elena Salgado, has responded to the suggestion of the Bank of Spain to raise VAT in order to generate more revenue, by saying that the Government "will not increase VAT, since it would have a negative effect on consumption”, as was argued at the European ...
Continue reading Salgado Says Spanish Government Will Not Raise VAT
April 27th, 2011
Concern over whether the Spanish economy will return to the employment levels of before the crisis is being felt even in the latest Government forecasts. Three years of job destruction will take time to heal, and according to the official forecast, released 2 weeks ago, the crisis bottomed out in ...
Continue reading Spanish Employment Update
April 22nd, 2011
The Spanish Government has taken a step forward and intensified its efforts to offer incentives to those who wish to renovate their homes. In a bold move, the Government Executive announced that tax relief for restorations is to be doubled, from 10% to 20% of the cost of the work. Further ...
Continue reading Spanish Government to Increase Tax Relief on House Reforms
April 21st, 2011
Spain has sold €3.4bn in long-term bonds in an auction attracting solid investor demand, helping to assuage fears that the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy is being dragged back into the crisis in the region’s periphery. The successful sale came after the level of interest investors demanded to hold Spanish debt jumped to ...
Continue reading Spain Eases Contagion Fears With Bond Sale
April 13th, 2011
Spain's finance minister said on Saturday that the results of stress tests on Spanish banks would reassure investors, contrasting with Germany which said any failing lenders would get no help from Berlin. Elena Salgado said Spain's savings banks, or cajas, would have double the minimum capital level required to pass European ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Healthy, Says Salgado
April 11th, 2011
Spain will not follow ailing neighbor Portugal in seeking a European bailout, Spain's Economy Minister said on Thursday, hoping Lisbon's move will draw a line under Europe's debt crisis. Caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced late on Wednesday that Portugal was asking for financing from the European Union, the third euro ...
Continue reading Spain Rules Out Contagion After Portugal Seeks Bailout
April 1st, 2011
Despite the odd nervous glance at its banking and real estate sector, euro zone bond investors aren't viewing Spain with anything like the jaundiced eye they reserve for Ireland, Greece and Portugal. While premiums demanded to hold the unfortunate threesome's debt rather than safe German bonds have unsurprisingly blown out this ...
Continue reading Rise in Interest Rates Likely, Says ECB Official
March 4th, 2011
Spain met its 2010 budget deficit target, Finance Minister Elena Salgado announced Tuesday, as spending cuts by the central government in Madrid helped offset the missed targets of about half of the country’s regional governments. The budget deficit for last year was €98.2 billion, or $135.6 billion, amounting to 9.24 percent ...
Continue reading Spain Meets 2010 Budget Deficit Target
February 22nd, 2011
Spain approved a decree toughening capital requirements for banks on Friday, but pushed out a deadline for unlisted regional banks to get private capital on board by six months. The decree forces savings banks, or 'cajas', to seek private capital, either by direct investment or stock market listings, in order to ...
Continue reading Spain Clears Plan to Shore Up Savings Banks
February 18th, 2011
The already rapid restructuring of the Spanish banking sector is accelerating, according to analysts and bankers, now that the finance ministry has seized the initiative from the central bank and investors in Spain and abroad are busily studying possible mergers and takeovers. “London-Madrid flights must be more clogged with bankers than ...
Continue reading Investors Seek to Profit from Spanish Cajas Reform
January 21st, 2011
Spain's regional savings banks are planning a March road show to Asia to drum up investor interest, having failed as yet to strike any private sector deals, savings bank sector sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The latest attempt to attract private capital into the unlisted savings banks, or 'cajas', follows similar ...
Continue reading Spanish Cajas Campaign to Attract Asian Investors
