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We analyse the improvement in Portuguese companies’ financial position due to their reduced levels of debt. 

Investment is a key variable which determines productive capacity, helps to boost productivity and economic growth, and supports wealth generation in the medium term. The recent trends in Portuguese investment, having performed well since 2016 as well as holding up during the pandemic, are thus very promising.

In this article, we analyse the consequences of the current energy crisis for electricity prices and shed some light on how it will effect electricity bills in Spain. 

Intuition tells us that a shock like COVID-19 should increase country risk and this has certainly been confirmed by the data. Nevertheless, a longer-lasting impact on country risk should be observed, which is not the case.

This year, the ECB will not only continue to raise interest rates, but it will also reduce the size of its balance sheet. How will this reduction work and what consequences could it have for sovereign debt?

Despite the unprecedented economic downturn caused by COVID-19, the cost of financing public debt is at an all-time low. To what extent do these interest rates lie behind the macroeconomic fundamentals?

The vigorous recovery of the European economy after the pandemic has given way in recent years – in a more hostile geopolitical context – to a situation of weak growth. However, this is not the case across the board, neither geographically nor by sector. In particular, while countries such as Germany and Italy are showing significant apathy, the «European periphery» – so-named in a previous era – continues to show remarkable dynamism, led by Spain and Portugal. A similar contrast is found between the more erratic behaviour of the agricultural, manufacturing and construction sectors – with greater exposure to recent shocks – and the growing role in the economy of skilled services supported by favourable underlying trends such as the digital transformation.