If you were asked today what Spain is, you could answer that it represents a splendid combination of economic potential, culture and quality of life. Spain has recorded extraordinary expansion over the past four decades. Its economy has grown by 2.3 times, making it one of the European countries showing the greatest levels of expansion. … Continued
When the Círculo de Empresarios was founded some forty-three years ago, our main concern and aim was centered upon ensuring that economic freedom would develop in tandem with increased political freedom. Our founders understood that we would be unable to enjoy liberty in general if our political freedom did not extend to all aspects of … Continued
Labour market, Spain In June, the number of affiliates to the Social Security system registered a moderate increase of 0.4% year-on-year, to 18,624,337 people. By sectors, construction experienced the biggest increase at 3.7% month-onmonth, followed by industry (0.7%) and the service sector (0.3%). On the other hand, agriculture fell 3.2%. In spite of the increase, … Continued
Industry and Services, Spain In April, the General Industrial Turnover Index fell 40.8% year-on-year as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown measures. This setback is the biggest since reporting began. By sectors, the car industry was the hardest hit (-90.4% year-on-year), followed by the clothing industry (-80%). On the other hand, the … Continued
Industrial production, Spain In April, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell 33.6% year-on-year. This is the biggest decrease since reporting began, in a context marked by the impact of the lockdown measures to contain the spread of Covid-19. According to goods types, the biggest decreases were with consumer durables (-67.5%) and capital goods (-57.4%). Production … Continued
Business sector, Spain In March, 6,767 new companies were created, the lowest figure for this month since 1995. This implied a fall of 28.3% compared to the same month last year. The capital subscribed for their creation reached €411.7 billion, 5.9% lower than in March 2019. By sector, most new businesses were related to trade … Continued
National Accounts, Spain The lockdown and economic hibernation measures adopted to halt the spread of Covid-19 have contracted GDP by 4.1% in Q1 2020, the worst figure since Q2 2009 (-4.4%). In the domestic demand, the fall in private consumption (–6.7% year-on-year) and investment (-5.5%) stand out against the increase of public spending by 3.6%. … Continued
Business confidence, Spain In the second quarter (Q2) of 2020, the Business Confidence Index (BCI)1 was at 95.5 points, the lowest level since the start of the series, falling 26.9% with respect to the first quarter of the year. 75.1% of business managers think their company performance will be negative in the second quarter, 21.8% … Continued
Public deficit, Spain In 2020, the IMF forecasts that Spain’s public deficit will increase to 9.5% of GDP (compared to 2.6% in 2019), against a backdrop of GDP shrinking by 8% yearly. On spending, an increase is expected as a result of the measures approved by the government to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, and … Continued
“Círculo wishes to contribute to improving Spanish society, furthering the common good” Círculo de Empresarios is a think tank in which more than two hundred business people and senior executives from both national and international companies in Spain participate. Its main goals consist of the fostering of the free market and private enterprise, the acknowledgement … Continued
Industrial Production, Spain In January, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) decreased 2.1% year-on-year, its biggest drop since March 2019 (-2.7%). By sectors, all have fallen, especially in energy (-5.8%) and consumer goods (-1.8%). By Autonomous Community, the IPI only increased in Navarra (8.6%) and Galicia (2.9%), while the largest declines were recorded in Andalusia (-12.1%), … Continued
Financing, Spain In H2 2019, growth in lending to households and non-financial companies diminished compared with 2018. This is mainly explained by the gloomy economic outlook and the slight tightening of loan standards, although the financing costs remained at fairly moderate levels. In the case of households, bank loans rose on average by 0.2% year-on-year, … Continued
Industrial production, Spain In 2019, the Industrial Production Index in Spain (IPI) rose by an average of 0.6% yearon- year compared to the decline in the Eurozone (-1.7%). Nonetheless, this increase was 0.14pp lower than in 2018, and the lowest increase since 2014. By sectors, the increase in production of capital goods (2.5% year-on-year) and … Continued
Forecasts, Spain Against the backdrop of the current synchronised global economic slowdown, the main national and international organisations forecast growth of between 1.9% and 2% annually in 2019 for the Spanish economy. Additionally, by 2020, the Funcas Consensus forecasts that growth will slow down to 1.6%. This rate will be based mainly on the positive … Continued
Contemporary society is undergoing extraordinary transformation with major consequences for the energy sector – a key industry with respect to socio-economic progress. Global GDP is forecast to double by 2050 and the world’s population will reach 9.8 billion. Given this context, it is essential to tackle climate change and environmental protection, promoting the efficient and … Continued
Industrial production, Spain In November 2019, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) in Spain increased by 2.1% year-on-year, compared with the 3% decline registered in the same month of 2018. This increase is the second largest of the year since the 2.8% increase in January, in a context where the industrial production throughout the Eurozone has … Continued
Overview of the economic situation Q4 2019 The main international organisations ( IMF, OECD, World Bank, and European Commission) warn of a global economy in a synchronised slowdown against the backdrop of mounting uncertainty and new geopolitical risks Thus, the second half of 2019 has been marked by the outbreak of social protests and institutional … Continued
Bank of Spain forecasts The Bank of Spain forecasts that the Spanish economy will embark on a gradual path of deceleration until 2022, and therefore maintains its 2% and 1.7% annual growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020, respectively. GDP growth rests on the back of positive evolution of domestic demand owing to the healthy wealth … Continued
Tourism, Spain Between January and October 2019, tourist arrivals in Spain increased by 1.1% year-onyear, which is 0.5pp more than the increase recorded in the same period last year, amounting to 74.4 million visitors. Despite this increase, the tourist arrivals from the following main tourist sending countries dropped: • The United Kingdom (22% of the … Continued
Trade in goods, Spain Between January and September (Eurostat), exports of Spanish goods increased by 1.4% year-on-year, which is 2.5pp less than in the same period of 2018, to €221.5 billion (18.4% of GDP). Concurrently, imports slowed down to a moderate growth of 1% year-onyear, compared with 6.3% in the same period last year, standing … Continued
GDP, Spain The European Commission has reduced the previous growth forecasts of the Spanish economy from 2.3% to 1.9% in 2019 and from 1.9% to 1.5% in 2020. The downwardly revised new forecasts are mainly explained by the revision of the historical series of the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) and the moderation of the … Continued
Balance of trade, Spain In 2019, between January and August, the exports of goods increased by 1.1% year-onyear, which is 3.1pp less than in the same period of 2018, amounting to €192,131 million (15.9% of the GDP). Whereas for the same period, the imports of goods dampened down to 1.2% year-on-year (vs 6.1% year-on-year in … Continued
One of the main objectives of the Círculo de Empresarios is to analyse the different areas of Spain’s economic and social reality and to offer ideas and constructive proposals for the benefit of Spanish society as a whole. In this sense, we have always been concerned about our Welfare State, and making it sustainable and responsive … Continued
Growth forecasts The Bank of Spain has revised down its growth forecast for the Spanish economy to 2% in 2019 and 1.7% in 2020, which is slightly lower than that provided by the Government and the Funcas consensus (2.2 % in 2019 and 1.9% in 2020). The main causes that explain this downward forecast are the … Continued
Labour cost, Spain The rise in the minimum wage since January 2019 (22.3%) and the higher maximum contribution bases to Social Security (7%) are the main factors that explain the rise in labour costs. Specifically, in Q2 2019, the labour cost per worker increased by 2.4% year-on-year (2.1% in Q1 2019) to €2,664.55, the largest … Continued
Companies are evolving all the time: they grow; split off into smaller parts; acquire and divest; innovate products, processes, and services; adopt new technologies; and engage differently with their customers and employees. And so it has been for centuries. But today, companies are grappling with fundamental paradigm shifts. Disruptive forces are rendering company and industry-wide … Continued