After using our consumption indicator to analyse the data on expenditure at petrol stations paid for with CaixaBank customer bank cards, we once again found that not all consumers reacted equally to the rise in fuel prices.
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Undoubtedly, the two key questions on investors’ minds and the central theme of the financial markets for much of the year – particularly in the last month – have been when the ECB and the Fed will lower interest rates and how many times they will do so in 2024. Thus, in May and early June the markets saw volatility in financial asset prices as investors sought clarity on the central banks’ future decisions.
The AIReF has ruled that the pension spending rule agreed with the European Commission has not been violated, although it has pointed out that complying with this rule does not guarantee the sustainability of the pension system or that of the general government as a whole. Moreover, it has warned that it will be necessary to increase government transfers to the Social Security system in order to sustain it between now and 2050.
Trump’s tariffs deal a blow to investor risk appetite and sovereign yield curves steepen on both sides of the Atlantic, as the central banks try to navigate the tidal surge. The stock markets register high volatility and the commodities most dependent on the business cycle fall.
The surge in uncertainty and the tariff hikes introduce downside risks to global growth, as well as upside risks to US inflation, while the impact on prices for the rest of the world is much more uncertain.
That being the case, for the moment, and while we wait for events to unfold, it seems that our economy ought to weather this period of uncertainty better than our main trading partners.
Broadly speaking, there are three key factors which define the new macroeconomic picture of the Spanish economy that we have elaborated here at CaixaBank Research, and which are shared by most of the institutions that have updated their forecasts.
The global economy will therefore continue to face major challenges in 2023, given the disruptive dynamics that continue to be present. With the unknowns regarding the performance of the Chinese economy and the evolution of the conflict in Ukraine, minimising the damage inflicted on the labour market by the current cycle of monetary tightening, as well as keeping the financial channel isolated from the noise, will be essential.
The Spanish economy is growing at a good pace – more so than expected – and this leads us here at CaixaBank Research to revise our growth forecasts for 2025 upwards from 2.3% to 2.5%. Despite the good news, the focus is not on the improvement in the forecasts, but rather on the uncertainty that surrounds them.
The start of 2025 has brought a change in the focus of the financial markets, which was consolidated in February. Investors have shifted their attention away from the central banks, which were the main driver of the markets in 2024, towards an environment of high geopolitical risk, with the «Trump effect» as a key catalyst.
We analyse individual CaixaBank customers’ direct debit electricity bill payments in order to understand how Spanish households’ electricity bills have evolved in 2022.
Economic activity is showing signs of a slowdown and inflation fell below 2% in March for the first time since August 2024.
The increase in energy prices throughout 2021 as a result of the combination of the sharp rise in global energy demand (due to the reactivation of the economic cycle) and a certain weakness in supply (due to geopolitical problems and the change in the energy model towards non-fossil fuels) has led to a global energy shock. In 2022, the geopolitical context is putting extra pressure on international gas and oil prices, which could aggravate the already significant impact of the energy bill on Spanish industry. This article examines the specific impact of rising energy prices on manufacturing, analysing which sub-sectors are being most affected and to what extent they are exposed to more sustained pressure on energy prices.
The agrifood sector continues to suffer from the sharp rise in production costs and the impact of the drought. However, the decline in agricultural commodity and energy prices on international markets from the peaks reached in 2022 should help contain agricultural production costs and thereby moderate inflationary pressures on food. Nevertheless, the severe drought that has been affecting the Iberian Peninsula since last year has reduced the yields of a large number of crops such as cereals and fruits, impacting both prices (up) and the volume of exports (down). All in all, in value terms agrifood exports continued to grow at a good rate in S1 2023 due to the rise in prices, reflecting the high competitiveness of Spain’s agrifood sector despite the adverse conditions.
Despite the worsening economic situation there is a marked upward trend in the real estate sector with very strong demand and a notable rise in prices. For its part, the supply of new housing is being affected by the war in Ukraine as this has pushed up construction costs even further and aggravated the material supply problems due to bottlenecks in global value chains. Consequently, the misalignment between the demand and supply of housing has intensified, with the result that house prices are likely to continue rising. However, there are several counteracting factors that should help to curb the growth in demand and prices over the medium term, including the impact of inflation on real household income and the ECB’s interest rate hikes.
Rising production costs as a result of the war in Ukraine are affecting all the links in the food chain: production, processing, distribution and transport, although the primary sector has been particularly hard hit, also adversely affected by unfavourable weather conditions in the form of drought. Rising costs are being passed on to the food prices paid by end consumers, pushing up spending on food, particularly among lower-income households. The most positive note comes from the external sector: agrifood exports have continued to grow strongly in 2022 and competitiveness indicators do not seem to have worsened in spite of the price hikes.
The food price rally has begun to slow, but the cumulative increase since 2019 is significant and expenditure on food now represents a higher percentage of Spanish households’ consumption. The decline in agricultural and energy commodity prices in the international markets relative to their peaks reached in 2022 should help to contain agricultural production costs and thus to further ease the inflationary pressures on food over the coming quarters.
Spain’s housing market is in the midst of a phase marked by rising tensions, resulting from a combination of strong demand, insufficient and inelastic supply, and marked regional differences.
The olive oil industry is a deeply-rooted, traditional sector in Spain, is one of the most important in the country’s agricultural sector and plays a fundamental role from an economic, environmental, cultural and gastronomic point of view. In addition to being a source of income and employment in many rural areas, it also contributes towards territorial and social cohesion and the fight against depopulation, soil erosion and climate change.
Spain’s agrifood sector is enjoying an expansion in 2025, favoured by improved weather conditions, the containment of production costs and increased demand. All this translates into a gradual increase in production and exports, which have already recovered to pre-pandemic levels, as well as a more dynamic labour market, with job creation and a reduction in temporary employment. The outlook for the coming quarters is encouraging, although significant challenges remain, including the US tariff hikes and the growing impact of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and fires.