Castle Asia Share Discussion Threads

[miata] 06/4/2012 09:59

Disappointing Spanish bond auctions this week meant the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds rose to 5.8pc.

Ballooning public debts and tragic levels of unemployment (23.6% of the workforce, 4.75m people) mean the possibility of a default is growing. This was underlined yesterday by an auction of short and medium term debt, where the country only just managed to meet its €2.5bn minimum target. Mariano Rajoy, the new Spanish Prime Minister described his nation's plight as one of "extreme difficulty". Investors appear to be taking him at his word.

[miata] 29/3/2012 10:18

Spanish unions claimed a high turnout for the general strike.

The police had made 58 arrests since the strike began at midnight, she said. They were mainly people taking part in picket lines to stop night shift workers getting to jobs in public transport, factories and wholesale markets.

Transport employees provided a previously agreed basic level of service, meaning one in four buses and about a third of underground and local trains were expected to run but only 10 per cent of domestic flights and 20 per cent of European flights.

[miata] 30/1/2012 09:25

Spanish gross domestic product fell 0.3% in the final quarter of 2011, the national statistics agency said on Monday, in a first estimate of the data. This is the first fall in GDP since the fourth quarter of 2009. On an annual basis, GDP rose 0.3% against the same period in the prior year.

[miata] 28/1/2012 09:08

Fitch has downgraded Italy, Spain and Slovenia by two notches and Belgium and Cyprus by one notch.

[maxk] 01/1/2012 12:29

Spanish Mortgages Decline for the 18th Straight Month as Bad Loans Surged

By Angeline Benoit - Dec 28, 2011 8:00 AM GMT




Spanish residential mortgages decreased for an 18th month in October as banks reined in lending amid a surge in borrowing costs and bad loans.

The number of home loans fell 43.6 percent from a year earlier after a 42 percent drop in September, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said in an e-mailed statement today. Total capital lent on all mortgages fell 40.6 percent, it said.

Spain is struggling to digest a glut of 700,000 unsold new homes since the collapse of the building boom that has pushed the unemployment rate to 23 percent. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who holds his second cabinet meeting on Dec. 30, has pledged to bring back tax rebates for mortgage holders and clean up an estimated 176 billion euros ($230 billion) of soured assets linked to real estate from the books of the country's banks.

Bad loans as a proportion of total loans by Spanish lenders jumped to a 17-year high 7.42 percent in October, the Bank of Spain said on Dec. 19.

The average price of Spanish houses and apartments declined 7.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said on Dec. 15.

[la forge] 18/12/2011 16:44

imo

this is media reporting at its worst

to frighten people is not responsible

the game is to cause fear and panic

no doubt initiated from government departments

and of course the rating agencies dont help

i believe they're trying to take out the middle class

[miata] 18/12/2011 12:52

Evacuation plans for British expats stranded in Spain and Portugal if their banking systems collapse are being drawn up by the Foreign Office.

The contingency plans are being put in place to help thousands of Britons if they were unable to get to their money in the event of a catastrophic banking collapse in two of the most vulnerable eurozone economies.

Around one million British expats live in Spain, particularly around Marbella and Malaga, and some 50,000 in Portugal.

The Foreign Office is concerned that those who have invested savings in their adopted countries would face losing their homes if banks called in loans and they were unable to access money. Last week ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded 10 Spanish banks, including Banco Popular.

Among options being considered for a 'nightmare scenario' include sending planes, ships and coaches to evacuate expats - some through Gibraltar.
Small loans could also be made available to stranded Britons and pressure would be exerted on the Spanish and Portuguese governments to allow access to funds to pay for everyday essentials. Both countries have a deposit guarantee, like the UK, which means depositors are covered for up to €100,000. But in the event of a collapse, most banks would limit withdrawals.

A senior Foreign Office source told The Sunday Times: 'The nuclear scenario would be having thousands of Brits stranded at the airports in Spain and Portugal with no way to get money from the cash dispenser and no way to get home. 'Who would be blamed for this? The Foreign Office.
'We are looking at how we can help evacuate them if the banks in Spain and Portugal collapse, getting people cash, things like that, sending planes.'
Expats could face losing their villas and apartments because they were unable to afford mortgage payments or withdraw enough cash as banks tried to stop money leaving the country. They could also lose savings if banks in either country collapsed.

[miata] 07/12/2011 14:29

Toilet paper restrictions

Schoolchildren in Catalonia are the latest victims of austerity cuts with authorities instructing them to limit their use of lavatory paper in a bid to save money. The latest edict issued by the region's ministry of education instructs state schools to cut "excessive consumption" of toilet roll among pupils and limit the quota to a maximum of 25 meters per child per month.

[waldron] 22/11/2011 14:37

I SAW THIS SUNDAY

the last bit made me smile

rather like guy fawkes


Fortunately it retains the Cádiz tradition of laughing at adversity. Benalup's carnival musical groups are already practising the typical chirigota songs that parody the powerful. Rajoy, Angela Merkel and the European Central Bank can all expect to feature in them by the time carnival comes around in February.

[miata] 17/11/2011 12:22

Spain 10-yr bonds average yield 6.975% vs 5.433% at October auction.

[miata] 14/11/2011 18:39

Those who own property in the eurozone should review their options.

Property prices have dropped by 24pc in Spain, 10pc in Greece and 5pc in Italy since markets peaked in 2007. But British investors may not lose out, thanks to the pound weakening against the euro.

According to HiFX, the currency broker, when compared to 2007, UK investors with Spanish homes are at break-even point at present, while those in Greece are sitting on an average 14pc gain and those in Italy have a 19pc gain. The question now is do they bank any gains, or at least get out without a loss? If the crisis escalates to the point that countries are forced to exit the euro, this could cause a major devaluation, which could seriously affect those who own property in these regions.

[miata] 11/11/2011 10:30

Spain's economy stalled in the third quarter, undermining the country's efforts to shield itself from the sovereign debt crisis after Spanish and Italian borrowing costs surged to records.

Gross domestic product was unchanged from the previous quarter, when it expanded 0.2 percent, the National Statistics Institute said today in an e-mailed statement in Madrid. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 0.8 percent. The Bank of Spain estimated on Oct. 31 that the economy stalled in the third quarter and grew 0.7 percent on the year.

The slowdown threatens Spain's budget-deficit goals, the European Commission said yesterday, meaning the government that emerges from the Nov. 20 general election may have to accelerate spending cuts to prevent the nation becoming the next victim of the debt crisis. The People's Party, which polls show will win, has pledged to regain Spain's AAA rating and tame borrowing costs without raising taxes or cutting pensions.

The economic figures "add to our view that Spain will struggle and is likely to fall back into recession, if not in the fourth quarter then early next year," said Ben May, a European economist at Capital Economics in London. "We've got unemployment going above 25 percent."

The extra yield on Spanish 10-year bonds compared with German equivalents rose to 408.8 basis points today, from 408.6 yesterday. Spain pays 5.9 percent to borrow for 10 years, the highest since Aug. 5, even as the European Central Bank supports the market with bond purchases.

[miata] 27/9/2011 09:27

Spain's Parliament reintroduced a wealth tax aimed at deficit-reduction in its last session before dissolving to make way for a general election that opposition conservatives are favored to win.

The government says the tax will affect 160,000 people whose net worth is more than euro700,000. It will run for only two years - 2011 and 2012 - to bring in euro2 billion just as Spain needs it the most as it works to cut its deficit from 9.2 percent of GDP last year to the EU limit of 3 percent in 2013.

[maxk] 13/9/2011 21:08

I thought Tokyo/Japan was broke too?

[miata] 13/9/2011 20:54

A delegation of senior officials from the Spanish treasury has been in Tokyo this week, seeking the support of Japan.

[maxk] 13/9/2011 20:42

Electricity cut off to Spanish town over unpaid bills

A town on the Costa del Sol has been thrown into darkness after the electricity company cut services because of unpaid bills.




By Fiona Govan, Madrid
7:28PM BST 13 Sep 2011



Coin, near Malaga in southern Spain, is, like many towns across the crisis-hit nation, on the verge of bankruptcy with an estimated debt of nearly 30 million euros (£26m) owed by the town council.

For more than a week there has been no lighting in public areas after power company Endesa cut services because of an outstanding bill of 280,000 euros (£240,000).

Meanwhile some 500 council employees in the town have not yet been paid their August wages, it was reported.

The town of 22,000 residents has been ordered to make an urgent payment of 400,000 euros (£346,000) to the Treasury in monthly instalments to cover its debts but the mayor has said the town will be forced to file for bankruptcy.

[miata] 12/9/2011 11:30

Cameras (on the AP-7 in Castellón, on the A-7 in Murcia, on the A-31 in Alicante and on the A-52 in Zamora) are equipped to alert the nearest traffic officer in the event a foreign-plated car is caught exceeding the speed limit. The officer receives a photo of the offending car and has the authority to pull the vehicle over and impose a large on-the-spot fine. If the fine is not paid the car may be immobilised. More such cameras are planned to be installed.

[waldron] 04/9/2011 09:30

cheers maxk and miata

enjoy your weekend

[miata] 22/8/2011 15:07

From FT Lex

"Ms Salgado's measures smack of a government that appears to have given up already. Her successor will have to pick up the baton and run harder."

Elections November 20.

[miata] 22/8/2011 15:03

The Spanish government has lowered value added tax on purchases of new homes to 4% 8%, which will apply for the transactions entered until the end of this year. This measure is intended to reduce the level of unsold homes in the economy after the housing boom.

[miata] 22/8/2011 14:59

A list of retirement hotspots by pension company Standard Life shows Spain is still the number one choice for British pensioners heading abroad.