New anti-crisis decree extending the War Response Plan
The new anti-crisis decree extending the War Response Plan, which was passed on Saturday, June 25th, includes a battery of measures that increase by almost 4.4 billion the public spending aimed at alleviating Spanish inflation until December.
These actions include:
- Limit of the maximum selling price of bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) until December 31st, 2022. The maximum price of the butane cylinder will be 19.55 euros.
- VAT on electricity lowered to 5%.
- Extension of the remuneration reduction from electricity production activity until December 31st, 2022.
- Extension of the 0.5% excise duty on electricity until December 31st, 2022.
- Maintenance of the 20 cents’ discount on fuel prices until December 31st of the current year. Modification and extension of the applicable formula for the price of road transport revision based on the variation of fuel price.
- Support measures for the gas-intensive industry: manufacturers of basic chemical products, iron and steel or ceramics. Maximum amount of aid per company is 400,000 euros.
- Extension of the 4% VAT on deliveries, imports, and intra-community acquisitions of disposable surgical masks until December 31st, 2022.
- 50% reduction on state transport passes and 30% reduction on public transport of the Autonomous Communities and City Councils.
- 200-euro family voucher for vulnerable families.
The decree will not include the 10% increase in Corporate Tax for large electricity companies, as it was postponed to January 2023.
Historic victory of the Popular Party in Andalusia
The acting president of the regional Junta de Andalucía and Popular Party’s candidate for re-election, Juan Manuel Moreno, won the regional elections on June 19 and achieved a historic absolute majority in the former socialist stronghold. The PP gained a total of 58 of the 109 seats, becoming the hegemonic party in Andalusia for the first time in more than 40 years. Moreno Bonilla will thus be able to govern without the need for other parties’ support.
With 8.4 million inhabitants and a surface area equivalent to that of Portugal, Andalusia remains Spain’s most populous region, the one that contributes the most MPs to the Spanish Congress. Spanish media predicts that these results will have an impact in the countries’ political changes in the coming months.
Spanish Government to impose an ‘additional’ levy on energy companies, due to soaring energy prices
The Minister of Finance and Civil Service, María Jesús Montero, has confirmed that the Government is working on an additional levy on energy companies to tax their profits as a result of uncontrolled energy prices. The levy would come into force in 2023. The measure is barely defined and the Treasury technicians are working on both the tax and its legal architecture. The measure was suggested by the ruling coalition party Podemos, whose leader Yolanda Díaz is still pushing for its implementation before the 2023 Budget.
The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef) has warned of an increase in the cost of Spanish debt until 2025
Cristina Herrero, Airef’s chairwoman, said that an increase to 3 percent in the Spanish bond would cause an increase of some 12 billion € more in interest until the end of the 2022-2025 period, an amount that would have to be added to the 20 billion previously estimated in April.
The Spanish markets regulator CNMV has tightened its control over the costs of investment funds
The supervisor has asked fund managers to review “the pricing process” for their investment products periodically, at least once a year. CNMV’s ultimate goal is for Spanish entities to carry out an annual review of their funds, so that they do not charge their clients “undue” or hidden costs.
Venture capital firms in Spain double the value of their portfolio in 10 years
Private equity and venture capital firms have grown at an accelerated pace in global markets since 2012 and Spain is no exception in this progression. In the last ten years, the investment portfolio of private equity funds in Spain has doubled in value. The portfolio of Spanish companies owned by private equity and venture capital vehicles will reach a value of 38,444 M€ by the end of 2021, according to the register of the SpainCap association. A decade ago, on December 31, 2011, the valuation of this portfolio was barely half this amount: 19,739 million, according to the revised data of the organization representing this industry.
The increase in minimum wage and the labour reform increase labour costs, particularly in the hospitality industry
The monthly labour cost per worker in Spain reached 2,729.01 € during the first quarter of the year, an increase of 4.7 percent over the same period of the previous year. This indicator includes both social security contributions and private insurance, as well as the salary received by the employee. The latter, in particular, increased by 5.2 percent annually to 2,006.61 €, according to data published yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). Although labour costs increase across practically all industries, they are soaring in the hospitality sector.
The Spanish regulator CNMV will increase its surveillance over the promotion of cryptoassets in sporting events and may ban CFDs for retail investors
In his annual speech at the Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation Committee of the Congress, CNMV’s Chairman Rodrigo Buenaventura said that CNMV will study, if necessary, a new regulation to prevent crypto-asset advertising from endangering the savings of the clubs’ fans. Mr Buenaventura also announced that CNMV is seeking to prohibit in Spain the investment in CFDs by retail investors, as happened in countries such as Belgium or France. CNMV estimates that around 80% of the clients attracted by firms that market these products will lose the money they have invested.
