Murcia is Spain's fastest growing region

Yesterday Spain's National Statistics Institute released the latest figures related to regional growth. The region of Murcia (Costa Calida)leads the ranking of fastest growing regions, with a growth of 3.99 percent in its GDP since 2000. The region to have experienced the slowest growth during the same period is the Balearic Islands with a growth of just 2.29 percent, well below Spain's national average of 3.36 percent.

Andalusia comes second in the league of Spanish regional growth between 2000 and 2006 with 3.72 percent followed by Madrid with 3.57 percent.

In figures relating to the final year covered in the study (2006) Murcia, Cantabria, Galicia and the Basque Country all experienced a growth in GDP of 4.1 percent, two points above the growth in national GDP (3.9%). With respect to this last year, the Canary Islands comes bottom (3.3%), just after the Balearic Islands (3.4%).

Average salaries in Spain

The report released yesterday by the INE also includes information about salary growth per Spanish region. Growth in gross available income per citizen has risen most in the Basque country (17,066€ per annum)and Navarra (13,384€), well above Spain's average income of 13,384. The lowest salaries are paid in Extremadura (10,327€) and Andalucia (10,798€).

Spanish abortion laws debated in parliament

Izquierda Unida, the Spanish communist party, is due to present a motion in parliament today calling for reform in Spanish abortion laws. This move comes at a time when the debate over Spanish abortion laws has been reopened due to the controversy over the investigations into illegal abortions being carried out in a number of clinics in Madrid in Barcelona. Gaspar Llamazares, leader of Izquierda Unida, has accused the government of not fulfilling its electoral promises over this issue.

The present law Spain only legally allow abortion in 3 cases – when the woman has been raped and has reported it to the police then an abortion is allowed during the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy, if serious physical abnormalities have been detected in the foetus then an abortion can be carried out up to 22 weeks into the pregnancy or the pregnant woman faces serious risks to her health or possible negative psychological problems due to the pregnancy (no time limit is in place under these circumstances).

Yesterday José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish president admitted that this issue would have to be addressed in time, but he did not specify whether or not decriminalisation of abortion would be included in their election manifesto. It is understood that the women members of Zapatero's Gabinet are pushing for reform.

Maribel Montaño the PSOE secretary in charge of Equality said in an radio interview broadcast on Cadena Ser that the present laws governing abortion in Spain were made 25 years ago and that now was the time to modify the law and adapt it to the new social reality of today’s Spain. She confirmed that any supposed changes to the law would be included in PSOE’s next electoral programme. She said the double objective of this would be to defend the rights of women to control their maternity and give more legal backing and clarification on this issue.

Spaniards still think in Pesetas

Recent research carried out by the European Commission has discovered that 54% of Spaniards admit to not managing the euro very well. The Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes went on to explain the findings of the study further saying that many Spaniards still don't feel comfortable using the euro and some were either afraid of spending too little or too much.

The study carried out by the European Commission took place in 2006 under the title ‘The Eurozone - five years after the introduction of the euro’.

The research included a section on finding out how the euro had changed consumers’ habits. Questions asked were ‘Do you buy less because you fear spending too much?’ ‘Do you buy more because you don’t know how much you are spending?’ and ‘Does the euro make little difference to your spending habits?’.

Only 45% of Spaniards who were included in the study were able to manage the euro in the same way as the peseta while 28% of those questioned confessed to spending more because they didn’t understand the true value of the euro and 26% admitted that they spent less because they feared they would go over their budget.

However, not being able to manage the euro very well appears to be a widespread problem throughout the Eurozone where only 41% of citizens said that they managed the euro in the same way as they had with their own former national currency.

On average those who overspent due to not being able to manage the euro well were more than those who underspent. However, the findings for Spain were the opposite with 58% of Spaniards included in the study admitting to spending less for fear of going over budget and only 25% admitted to overspending.

The country with the least problems in adapting to the euro was Portugal where 57% of those questioned were happy using the euro. Ireland was found to be the country which had experienced the most problems adapting to the euro with only 28% of those questioned able to manage the euro as well as their own former national currency.
The study also found that women were more cautious than men in their spending habits and that the elderly took fewer precautions than the young. No significant differences were found in regards to people’s educational background.

Felipe González will Chair EU Advisory Committee

Felipe González is to lead an EU advisory committee which will consists of prestigious personalities from the academic world and politics.

The main role of the group is to draw up a set of guidelines which will guarantee the ‘modernization of the European model’. It also has the responsibility of answering the demands of EU citizens and assuring continued economic progress, social stability, development and sustainability and the struggle against climate change.

González was nominated by both France and Germany and was the person who received the most support by other EU member to take on this role. Other names in the hat were Freiberga, the ex Chancellor of Austria and Pat Cox, the ex President of the European parliament.

The Committee has also been given the task of compiling a report predicting what Europe will be like in 2020 which must be ready by June 2010.

European Commission predicts a fall in the construction industry in Spain

According to forecasts made by the European Commission based on information provided by the association of large construction companies, Seopan, investment in the construction sector in Spain dedicated to building houses and flats is predicted to fall by 1.2% next year. It is also predicted that it will continue falling by up to as much as 10% over the next few years. These figure contrast sharply with the 3.5% growth expected in this subsector for 2007 and the 6.4% growth recorded in 2006.

The drop in the construction of homes is the principal factor behind the slowdown in the Spanish construction industry predicted for 2008. It is expected that investment in construction will only grow by 1.3% in 2008 which is substantially less than the 4.4% forecast for this year and drop further in 2009.

Other sectors of the Spanish construction industry are expected to continue growing with a 4% rise in activity predicted for next year and 3.8% for 2009 even though these figures show a definite slowdown in the sector as a whole compared to 5.3% growth expected for 2007.
Spain together with Ireland and Portugal are the 3 countries in the Euro zone where an annual fall in the construction sector has been predicted for the period 2007-2009. In terms of the Euro zone as a whole a gradual decline in the construction industry has been predicted from a 3.5% growth rate this year to just 1.3% for 2009. A growth of just 2.2% is expected for 2008.

These figures contrast with those for Eastern European countries which are not in the Euro zone. Most of these countries are receiving large sums of European funds and a growth rate of up to 30% is expected in the construction sector there.

For example in Rumania the construction industry has grown 29.5% this year and is expected to grow by 21.5% next year and 17% the following year. In Poland the construction industry has grown by around 20% this year and is expected to grow by 10.8% in 2009. Lithuania and Slovenia have also seen significant growth in their construction industries.

Large Spanish construction companies and estate agents such as FCC, Acciona, Ferrovial and Fadesa, have anticipated these events and many of them have established themselves in these new emerging markets in Eastern Europe.

Related: Property market in Spain

Spanish cured ham available in the USA

The first (legal) order of Spanish Iberian ham as arrived in the USA. The ham was presented to the American public yesterday in the restaurant Jaleo in Washington. Spain's ambassador in the USA was present at the event.

The USA recently lifted the ban imposed on the importation of Spanish cured ham and producers in Spain are now allowed to export their hams if they comply with the quite strict rules imposed by the US food authorities.

The first Spanish brand to complete all the admin involved in shipping ham to the US in compliance with the new laws is called Fermín, and their proud manager, Santiago Martin, was also present at the Jaleo restaurant yesterday as food critics and guests were encouraged to try the Iberian ham. He told reporters that it was cause for great satisfaction that after years of effort and difficulties his company had managed to introduce their iberian ham into the American market - "Today is a historical event for the sector of Iberian ham" he said.

Iberian ham (jamon iberico) is considered to be, in the words of Spanish chef José Andrés, the "Rolls Royce" of Spanish cured hams, and is at the top end of the price range. It is best when cut very thinly and is a popular starter in most Spanish restaurants.

Related: Spanish recipes and Spanish foods

Sharp rise in food prices in Spain

Government recognises food prices have increased more in Spain than the rest of the EU

Last week Ignacio Cruz Roche, the Managing Director of Commercial Policy for the Ministry for Industry, admitted that ‘food prices have gone up more in Spain than the EU average over the last two months’. If comparisons are made between food price increases between Spain and the rest of the EU from July to October this year Spain loses out by 6 decimal points in July, 7 in August, 1 in September and 1.7 in October.

According to Cruz Roche these difference are difficult to understand and he has appointed the National Competition Commission to investigate whether there has been any price fixing within the food industry.

In a report compiled by the Cerdá Institute on the price of food distribution a sharp increase can be seen in prepared food for commercial distribution. While the price of meat, fruit and fish can be seen to go up and down according to where they are sold this is not the case for packaged food where there appears to have been uniform price rises of over 4% between April and October this year.

Moreover it looks likely that prices will continue to increase despite the fact that between January and October this year they rose by 6.1% which is the highest increase since December 1995. According to Cruz Roche. 'the cost of food and alcoholic drinks in Spain are 8% below their real price’ (if you take into account per capita income). In his opinion only Portugal and Holland have lower prices than Spain. When asked if this meant that price rises would continue he said that if per capita income increased then it is reasonable to expect prices to increase. However, he also added that this did not necessarily mean that price rises were justifiable in the short term.

Cruz Roche pointed out that many prices rises were down to the increase in the cost of raw materials throughout the world and when they started to go down again ‘prices for the consumer would reflect this’. In fact he said that the price of milk, eggs, bread, chicken and yogurt had remained the same in Spain and had not gone up in the first two weeks of November.

Ignacio Cruz Roche, also defended the food distribution sector saying that it had been accused by the agriculture sector of inflating prices and taking advantage of price rises in raw materials. When asked the real reasons for recent price rises Cruz Roche said that his department was investigating the food chain to find out where the increases were being produced. Once again he denied that it was down to the increases in distribution saying that net profits for this sector hardly rose above 4%.

In his opinion the agriculture sector always looked at the difference between the price paid for raw materials such as lemons and onions and the price in the shops (differences of 297% and 762%). He said that sometimes it was ‘more expensive to distribute than to produce’. He added that 25% of agricultural produce was not consumed because it didn’t reach its destination in an acceptable condition and ‘to the price of a lemon hanging on a tree you had to add transport costs, insurance costs and the cost of handling in a shop’.