New mobile phones starting with 7

3 demonstrations

Less foreign workers

Critic of State Budget

New mobile phones starting with 7

Spain is running out of the 100 million mobile phone number starting with 6, thus the Government has decided to add another 80 million numbers,  still having nine digits, but starting with 7.  A big demand for new numbers is expected as additional mobile phone services are being offered, including broad band internet on mobile phones.

3 demonstrations

Between 1 and 1½ million people marched through the streets of Madrid protesting against the proposed new law on abortion which is being debated in Parliament. The law will give minors the right to an abortion without the consent of their parents.

Tens of thousands radical nationalists in the Basque Country demonstrated against the arrest of a number of ETA terrorists and prohibition of their political parties.

More than seventy foreign immigrant organisations staged protests in ten cities, against the proposal for a new law on foreigners which has been presented to the Parliament.

Less foreign workers

The number of immigrant workers is falling.   There were 6,733 fewer foreign contributors to the Social Security System in September, bringing the present total to 1,909,595; that is 8.62% less than the same month last year.  Romanians now represent the largest national group, with 277,151 contributors, followed by Moroccans 227,964; Ecuadorians 198,059; Colombians 126,315 and Peruvians 77,245. The foreigners represent 10.64% of all employees registered with the Social Security.

Economists criticise State Budget

The Institute of Economical Studies (IEE) has attacked the Government’s proposed budget for 2010, calling it the “Worst budget proposal since democracy was introduced to Spain.”    Economists have warned the recession will continue into next year and the economy will shrink a further 1% in 2010. They expect 300,000 more unemployed, resulting in 1,200 million euros in payments to the jobless.

They doubt there will be any increase in demand for new dwellings, since a reduction in prices expected up tol 2012.

Cost of State Administration rises 33.39%

The proposed state budget for 2010 will see the cost of the State Administration rise 33.39% compared with 2005. The Government of Jose Maria Aznar reduced the cost of employees in central administration by 1,262 million euros, by transferring health services and basic education from the central government to the regions.  As a consequence the transfer of capital from the national administration to the regions has increased by 33.72% since 2005.

Almost 5% of loans unpaid

Unpaid bank loan repayments in August reached 4.931%, the highest since 1996. In August last year payment failures were 2.525%. The volume of unpaid repayments on loans amounts to 90,619 million euros. The President of the Association of Banks has warned that the non-payments will continue and that 2010 will “not be an easy year for financial entities”.

The National Institute of Statistic reports that 900,000 families have failed to make at least one payment, connected with their dwellings, i.e. mortgages, electricity, gas or community fees.

Spain corners the European debt market

The European market for public debts had a hectic week, with the issuing of 35,000 million euros in such debts. Almost one third (11,000 million) was placed by Spain. The debts now owed by Spain run until 2015, with an interest of 4.4%.

Mayor arrested of El Ejido

The Mayor of El Ejido (Almeria) and 18 others have been arrested, accused of laundering black money, misuse of public funds, influence peddling and falsification of public documents. The Mayor, Juan Antonio Enciso Ruiz, was expelled by Partido Popular in 2005 and formed his own party, called Partido de Almeria (PAL) winning an absolute majority in the town hall. The alleged manipulations were made using 12 companies belonging to the Municipal Company for Services.

President of Balearic Parliament called to court

Maria Antonia Munar, President of the Balearic Parliament and Honorary President of the party Unio Mallorquina, has been called to testify in the Balearic Islands Supreme Court.  She is suspected of urban corruption in the case Can Domenge. This case came to prominence when a company made a criminal allegation concerning the choice of another company, which had made a much lower offer, in connection with the sale of 52,000 square meters of public land.

Difficulties of refinancing for property companies

Property companies listed on the stock exchange are facing difficult renegotiation of their huge debts from the boom years.  In the first half of 2009 they had to pay 500 million euros in interest, instalments and financing and are now facing a new round of negotiations with the banks.

Business confidence falls in October

The Indicator of Business Confidence fell 2.5 points in October and now stands at a negative level of 21.5. The indicator had shown an improvement in confidence in July. The main reason for the new fall is lack of consumption which is adversely affecting business turn-over.

Opel workers on strike

Employees at the Opel factory in Figueruelas (Zaragoza) have gone on a four day strike to protest against the plan of Magna (the new owners of Opel) to lay off 1,332 workers.  Figueruelas and the Opel plant in Eisenach (Germany) produce the popular Corsa model.

“The mother of all property bubbles”

Variant Perception, a financial analyst company, has produced a catastrophic study on the Spanish economy and its banks; it arrives at the following three conclusions:-

1. The property crash in Spain will be worse than most believe, as the sub prime credits become worse than most initially thought.

2. Spanish banks are hiding their losses and refinancing debts to zombie companies, as Japan did in the last decade.

3. The investors are cheating themselves if they really believe that Spanish banks are among the strongest in the world.

The analysts points to the fact that Spain has as many dwellings for sale as the United States, in spite of the US being 6 times bigger.  Spain represents 10% of the economy in the EU, but since 2000 has constructed 30% of all dwellings.  They continue, “The impact on the financial sector will be substantial, the value of loans to building promoters went from 33,500 million euros in 2000 to 318,000 million in 2008; an increase of 850% in 8 years. If one adds the loans to construction companies, total debts of the sector amount to 470,000 million euros. That is almost 50% of the Gross Domestic Product of Spain. Most of it will never be repaid.”