Search results

The health crisis brought about by COVID-19 has forced large parts of society to quickly and unexpectedly adapt to remote working, a relatively minority practice in Spain prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. Does Spain simply lack the potential to telework or, on the contrary, does it has the potential but fails to exploit it?

The COVID-19 crisis has been a shock on a global scale, but its economic impact has been quite uneven from country to country, reflecting differences in productive structures and public policy response. Given this asymmetry, it is no surprise that the recovery is also occurring at very different paces, exacerbated by the discriminatory access to the vaccines and the continuous new outbreaks of the virus.

Following a September full of announcements, the next meeting of the ECB (24 October) will be one of transition, at least in one way: 31 October 2019 will mark the end the mandate of Mario Draghi, the most charismatic president1 in the institution’s history.

Spain’s foreign sector has registered a surplus for the last 12 consecutive years. The strength of this success was proven last year, when the current account balance survived the energy crisis, which caused a sharp rise in the price of imported energy products and a marked deterioration in the trade balance.

As the age-old saying, which is so topical in light of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, puts it: «hope for the best, prepare for the worst».

The oil price seems to have boarded a roller coaster, and this makes it very difficult to predict its future trend. In the early stages of the year, oil production limits implemented by the OPEC countries and the recovery in investor sentiment kept the oil price afloat.

The Spanish economy will have to continue to navigate an adverse and complex international environment. But, for now, it has started the year on a good footing.

Although it is nothing new, it is still important to emphasise it: the latest available indicators for the Spanish economy have once again beaten expectations. Despite the continued weakness of Europe and the high global uncertainty, Spain’s economy continues to stand out on the international stage.

GDP growth once again beat expectations in Q3 and the labour market and the PMIs kick off Q4 on a good footing.

In 2024, the global economy remained resilient in an environment marked by restrictive financial conditions and the major international economies managed to grow by more than expected. Nevertheless, 2025 is still set to be a challenging year: the threat of greater economic fragmentation has now been added to the risk map, with an increase in trade barriers and uncertainty.