More Romanians, Fewer Brits

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That's the title of an article I just read in the Spanish daily, ABC. Basically, it's a review of a Bank of Spain report called, "Foreign Investment in the Spanish Residential Market Between 2007 and 2019." Apparently, foreign buyers of homes and property in Spain rose from  4.2% in 2007 to 10.% in 2019. 

The report highlights that during this period there have also been changes in the habits of these investors, one of them being the decrease in buyers from the UK. It notes that Brexit and the devaluation of the pound contributed to the fact that between 2017 and 2019 the British sold more houses than they bought in Spain. During this period the percentage of foreign purchases by Britons fell by 6 points, and last year represented 8% of transactions by residents of Spain's fellow EU countries. The opposite happened with countries such as Romania and Italy, which increased their participation in the market to 12% and 8% respectively. At the same time, the total of such purchases made by foreigners from countries outside the European Union are also significant (27% in 2019). Among non-EU countries, Morocco and China stand out, with respective percentages of 14% and 6% of purchases by foreigners in 2019.

According to the report, there were other significant changes in property sales to foreigners. Between 2007 and 2010, they barely represented 3.3% of the market, but then grew strongly until reaching the historical maximum of 10.5% in 2014. That year the recovery of the sector began, which caused non-Spaniards to gradually reduce their involvement in the market. In 2019 they represented an average of 7.8% of operations. 

The analysis also reportedly shows that the housing stock held by resident foreigners increased steadily from 2007 on, and then accelerated after 2014. Thus, in 2019, net purchases by foreigners accounted for almost 0.2% of the housing stock, almost three times more than in 2013. 

The report also highlights the interest that these buyers have in Spain's coastal regions, especially the Balearic and Canary Islands. Nineteen percent of housing purchases in Santa Cruz de Tenerife were made by foreigners last year, followed by the Balearic Islands (16%), Alicante (15%) and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (14%). 

Regarding prices, the report indicates that between 2014 and 2019 the prices foreigners paid was 4% higher than those of domestic buyers, although this percentage rises to 10% when considering purchases in cities such as Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca. 

ABC quoted the report as saying, “These differences are probably a reflection of the different investment profile in different provinces. In those on the Mediterranean coast and on the islands, foreign investors with high incomes, who demand higher quality homes located in better areas, surely have a higher significance."

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In recent years, there has been speculation that the presence of foreigners in certain areas of Spain has caused housing prices in those regions to be more expensive. This theory the Bank of Spain now  corroborates, at least in part.

From the report: "The high correlation between population growth and rising property prices suggests that the increase in the foreign resident population in certain provinces (especially island ones) contributed to increasing house prices through their effect on demand for real estate."

Meanwhile, realty website Idealista reports that Standard & Poors recently carried out an analysis of the consequences of the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis on Europe's housing market. Results indicate that house prices are falling by 3-3.5% in Spain, as well as in the UK, Ireland and Italy. 

That sounds better than the forecast of Bankinter, which predicts that prices will drop by 6% (which Idealista pointed out is in line with the estimates of the Swiss investment bank and financial services company, UBS) and a collapse in sales of up to 35%, after having already fallen 3.3% in 2019. That would bring the volume of operations in 2020 to around 326,000, which would be the lowest level since 2014—the year Spain finally began its recovery from the recession. (You may recall that the main cause of  Spain's 2008-2014 economic crisis was the residential real estate bubble, which saw prices rise 200% from 1996 to 2007.)

It will be interesting to see what changes the pandemic will bring to Spain in so many areas, including in terms of house prices, sales, and the number of foreigners who buy property here.

  Saludos,                                                                                                                                                   

Carlos                                                                                                                                                       

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Spain selling residency permits to foreigners: prices range from 500,000 to 2 million euros

Spain's ruling party, the conservative Popular Party, will give residency permits to foreigners who buy more than two million euros worth of public debt or who purchase Spanish real estate worth more than 500,000 euros.

Read about it in El País in English.

Spain behind the eight-ball in 2008

It looks like eight is Spain's number lately, for better or for worse. On the better side, that number was Spain's "well-being" ranking among 22 European countries the New Economics Foundation's 2008 National Accounts of Well-being report. Indeed, Spain and Cyprus were the only Mediterranean countries to make the top 10.

According to the NEF, governments should directly and regularly measure people’s subjective well-being: their experiences, feelings and perceptions of how their lives are going, as a new way of assessing societal progress, instead of only focusing on economic indicators. So according to this measure, Spain is not doing too bad. Well, that's good to know, especially in view of the worse side of number 8.

Spain's unemployment rate rose to an eight-year record at the end of 2008 -- at 14%, the highest rate in the European Union. Spain's high unemployment rate, helped to bring the the overall Eurozone unemployment rate up in December to ques what -- 8%.

I think these statistics sum up 2008 in Spain, a mix of better and worse -- as in much of the world. However, people here seem generally positive and hoping for a better year without so much time "behind the eight ball."

Suerte amig@s,

Carloz

Is Pedro Solbes misreading, or misleading? That is the question.

In case anyone who follows this blog hasn't guessed by now, I have very little faith in Spain's Economy Minister, Pedro Solbes -- not that I have much faith in any of his colleagues, either. However, he holds a special place in my disdain because of what can only be his misreading of, or misleading about the economy

When he served in Brussels as European Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs (1999-2004), he denied that the introduction of the euro contributed to inflation. Then in December 2007 he said, "When I was in Brussels, I said the opposite, but now I can say that the euro has had an inflationary effect on low cost items." Was that a misreading, or was he misleading?

At that same time he predicted that Spain's inflation rate, which was 4.1%, would go below 3% by March 2008. Solbes was wrong again, as by April it had risen to 4.6%. By May it was 4.7%. Misreading, or misleading?

Solbes continued to deny there was an economic crisis through the first half of 2008, as people lost jobs, the cost of living soared, the real estate bubble burst, and the economy just generally went into the toilet. In May Solbes equated "crisis" with "recession," and added, "To talk about recession is exaggerated." Misreading, or misleading?

It seemed like he might be ready to admit the truth when it was leaked to the media that he used the word "crisis" in a June 10th closed door session of parliament. However, on June 11th he qualified that by saying, “Yesterday, the only thing I said was that we need to prepare for a crisis, but I never talked about 'the crisis.'” The official line from the Socialist Party spokesperson, José Antonio Alonso, was that Solbes had had a “slip of the tongue.” Misreading, or misleading?

Then to muddy the water further, he said on June 13th that while the Spanish economy was experiencing an “abrupt adjustment” he didn't use the word “crisis” because that would be "abusing a false affirmation. Crisis means that everything is going badly and that every other thing is going well, neither one thing or the other.” Misreading, or misleading?

By July he had finally started using the "C" word publicly, even declaring in one interview, "For me, this is the most complex crisis we have ever experienced because of the number of factors that are on the table." But around then he had moved on to avoiding the "R" word. In an interview in August he said, "We think there will be very low or flat growth in the coming quarters, but we are not thinking of a recession." Misleading, or misreading?

Last summer Solbes and Company forecast that Spain would avoid recession and that the GDP would actually grow a full 1%. This was very different from what most other economists were saying. Then yesterday he and the Government belatedly acknowledged the country is in a recession when he announced that his ministry was changing the forecast from one of GDP growth to one with a 1.6% drop. Misreading, or misleading?

Of course, there are still many non-government economists who are not as confident as Solbes, with some predicting the Spanish economy will contract as much as 3% this year. Neither the dire views of others, nor his lousy performance so far, seem to have given him pause. Indeed, while finally admitting he was wrong yesterday, he also had the temerity to make yet another prediction. According to his crystal ball (which must be what he uses in lieu of economic theory), 2009 will see the worst of the crisis, 2010 will witness GDP growth of 1.2%, and 2011 will experience a jump up to 2.6%. Misreading, or misleading?

Of course, people here say that Solbes is only delivering the information Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero wants him to, and I don't doubt it for a second. Certainly the buck stops with Zapatero, but it would be nice to have an Economy Minister who told the PM and the people what they needed to hear.

Instead what is it exactly that he offers? Is it misreading, or misleading? Double-speaking, or misspeaking? Denying, or lying? Call it what you will, but it does not often resemble the truth.

Finally, one more question: if you were running a business, would you hire someone with a track record like this?

Dios nos ayude, amig@s,

Carloz

Minimum Wage Spain = Salario Mínimo España

Some years ago I asked a Spanish colleague what the minimum wage was here and was met with a puzzled look. When I explained what I meant further, he said he didn't think there was such a thing -- an average, perhaps, but nothing guaranteed. This person was a professional with a post graduate degree, so I thought if he did not know, then there must not be such a thing in Spain.

Eventually, I learned that there is indeed such a thing, but that it is not a guaranteed hourly wage, but a monthly salary. The Spanish minimum wage is called the Salario Mínimo Interprofesional or the SMI and has existed since 1963. It supposedly pertains to all occupations, businesses and economic sectors. It is adjusted at regular intervals, usually each year, although the law allows for bi-annual adjustments. It is based on "normal working hours" (whatever that means), and is established according to various economic indices such as productivity, retail-price index, etc., and is protected from seizure by creditors.

I've read that since the SMI is so low, only about 0.7% of the employed population is affected by adjustments to it -- or 140,000 people. However, it is said to have an important indirect impact because the SMI is used as a reference point for establishing pensions and for collective pay negotiations. Spanish unions claim that it effects the remuneration of one million employees. That leaves about 18,860,000 people who are not affected.

In addition, before moving here and since living here, I have continuously heard and read that employers are supposed to pay their contracted employees 14 monthly payments a year, not 12. In the 9 years I have lived here, I have never received the two extra payments.

Anyway, I write all of this as background to the news that Prime Minister Zapatero announced yesterday that the SMI would go up 4%, to 624 euros a month. It is the lowest increase in the past five years. It is also much lower than the 7.5% a year that would be necessary for Zapatero to reach his campaign promise of a monthly SMI of 800 euros by 2012. So, now he's promised to raise it by 8.6% a over the next 3 years.

Yesterday the Government also approved a 2.4% raise in pensions for 2009. The average pension will be 741.62 euros a month.

It is estimated that the cost of living in 2008 went up 5.3%.

I suppose many Spaniards will be counting their pennies as well as their grapes when the clock strikes midnight next Wednesday.

Let's hope that 2009 is a better year in Spain and everywhere!

Saludos amig@s,

Carloz

Main sources: European Employment and Industrial Relations Glossaries and El País (Un final de ciclo amargo and El Gobierno eleva un 4% el salario mínimo, a 624 euros.)

One Year On!

It's been a little more than a year since I started blogging, so I thought I'd provide updates on some of the topics I've written posts about:

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BICING

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I've written a bit about Bicing, which also celebrated it's first year anniversary recently. Well, today's El País newspaper ran an article about the service's increasing growing pains: El Bicing genera 600 reclamaciones diarias por mal funcionamiento. (Bicing receives 600 complaints a day about technical problems.)
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This was based on information included in a report that City Hall made public yesterday, but which apparently had been making the rounds of municipal offices for a while. Perhaps the most damning part of the report was the revelation that a majority of users are dissatisfied with the functioning of the computerized stations where bikes are parked. Aside from some stations habitually not having bikes available, and others seeming to hardly ever have empty spaces for leaving-off a bicycle, other problems include system overloads which cause the whole computer network to fail. When this happens bikes cannot be removed from the stations and bikes that are left-off are not recognized as having been returned. Therefore, some people have been wrongly penalized for returning bikes late or fined for not returning bikes at all.

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More than 150,000 people currently subscribe to Bicing. Apparently a total of over 250,000 people have joined the program in the last 14 months, but more than 150 people drop out each month. Today Bicing has 367 stations and a fleet of 5,500 bicycles, with about 28 members for each bike. The plan is to grow the program to 6,000 bikes and 400 stations by September and then to postpone more growth until the operation of the service can be improved, for example, by installing a back up computer system to take over when the main one goes down.

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Who will pay for the improvements? The city will, although Clear Channel, the company that has the contract to run Bicing, was fined 22,000 euros this past January for not meeting the minimum quality indices that had been agreed to.

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Other statistics from the report included:

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- An average of 39,500 trips daily - 7.8 per bicycle.
- Each bicycle is ridden some 10,000 kilometers per year.
- As of last June 18, users had completed a total of 50,178 trips - 9.2 per bicycle.
- An average of six traffic accidents involving Bicing users are registered each month.
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If you are a Bicing user and want to have your voice heard, you can participate in a survey being conducted by researchers with Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo (Research and Development) and the University of Washington. Click here to take the survey, which is available in English, Spanish and Catalan.

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By the way, I still hold a generally positive view of Bicing and am so glad that it exists. While not even close to perfect, it certainly has been a positive addition to my life -- and I bet it's better than anything they have in Paris!

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NEWSPAPERS / PERIÓDICOS
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A new daily newspaper appeared on the Spanish scene this past year. Público hit the stands in September, with the aim of attracting left of center readers in the 25-45 year old age group. The editor is 32 year old Ignacio Escolar, who is the son of journalist Arsenio Escolar, the editor of the free daily 20 minutos. The younger Escolar previously worked in television, radio and as a musician in the groups Meteostat and Dedcodek. He's also writes a popular blog called Escolanet.

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Of course, Público seems to be going head to head with El País, the country's other left leaning daily, which bills itself as, “the global Spanish language newspaper.” (El periódioco global en español) One of El País' directors, Juan Luis Cebrián, told the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, "We don't even see them as a competitor. It's like comparing The New York Times and The New York Post." So, I guess it was just a coincidence that the publishers of El País felt the need to revamp the paper last October, with the stated purpose of appealing to younger readers.

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Well, I still like El País, but I find that I like Público, too, and have been buying it pretty frequently. Anecodotically, I can say that many people I know seem to be doing the same.
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THE SUMMER SOLSTICE AND LA NOCHE DE SAN JUAN
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Another summer solstice / noche de San Juan came and went yesterday. Fantastic fireworks and thousands of party goers on Barcelona's streets and beaches. I read today that the local police estimated that there were 85,000 people on the city's “playas” last night. Of course the symbol of the year's shortest night is the bonfire, and so flames and firecrackers colored my neighborhood as usual, as well as all of Barcelona.

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However, it's not just Barcelona that celebrates la noche de San Juan. In towns in the Pyrenees there were traditional torchlight processions, Madrid saw urban bonfires and on Spain's islands there was fireside dancing in the moonlight.

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In Alicante, where one of the biggest San Juan festivals is held, the dazzling climax of the festivities won't happen until tonight. Larger than life wooden and paper maché figures are built by neighborhood associations as part of a city-wide competition and then are burnt to the ground at midnight on the 24th, setting the entire city aglow. What a way to welcome in the summer!
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THE ECONOMY
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Well, PM Zapatero couldn't quite bring himself to use the “c” word but at least he stopped using some of his favorite euphemisms (difficult scenario, period of adjustment) when he finally admitted yesterday that Spain's economy was in serious trouble. He couldn't let go of one ambiguity, however -- economic deceleration. At least he shuffled it along from a “deep deceleration ” to a “strong deceleration -- almost a sudden stop.”
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Better late than never? We'll have to wait and see if the 21 new proposals his government plans to make to address the CRISIS will do any good. So far the reaction has been muted to negative, with the governor of the Bank of Spain describing them as "insufficient." I wonder if that was a euphemism?
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Chao amig@s,
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Carloz

Crisis? What crisis?

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero finally presented his new government's economic plan on Saturday, while avoiding saying anything that might make it sound like Spain is facing serious economic problems. I think the reaction published in this Sunday's El País hit the nail on the head:

“Crisis? What crisis? 'A difficult scenario', 'a difficult period of adjustment' or 'a deep deceleration of the economy'. These are some of the terms the president of the government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, employed yesterday when referring to the current state of Spain's economy, which receives a blow each time a new economic indicator is revealed. The president attributes the deterioration to external factors (increased oil and food prices). Still, he announced a package of 'structural reforms' to make things more tolerable. There is nothing new in this battery of urgent measures.

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Unemployment is on the rise, inflation has gotten out of control, sales of homes have collapsed, sales of cars cannot even get off the ground, and the gross domestic product is losing wind. But Zapatero resists thinking that this is a crisis situation...

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The measures were neither new nor quantified. ...one consists of a 30% reduction of administrative charges that businesses bear. [However,] This was an action that had been announced in April of 2007...with the aim of lowering bureaucratic costs by 2012... ...other plans [included enhancing] railway competition and energy sharing with France.”

And this less than enthusiastic coverage was from a news organization sympathetic to Zapatero's socialist party! Imagine what the center and right leaning media wrote!!

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Most distressing to me was the revelation that this “plan” is to be incorporated into a national program of reforms which will be presented to the European Commission in October. A lot can happen between now and October!! What is the government planning on doing to address the so-called “difficult scenario” before then -- more thumb twiddling?!!!

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Perhaps the most interesting part of the El País report was the following:

“Microphones are treacherous -- above all when they are on without the speakers' knowledge. That was the case yesterday with the President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the owner of Planeta Publishing Corp., José Manuel Lara, who before the presentation made several recommendations regarding the crisis, as recorded by Channel Four:

Lara: 'For the time being, [the crisis] is not going to stop. I am afraid it's going to get worse in the second half of the year. That's what I fear.'

Zapatero: 'It's not clear'

Lara: 'I would advise that you not burn yourself...'

Zapatero: 'What?'

Lara: 'You shouldn't speak; have [Finance Minister] Solbes speak. You shouldn't burn yourself, because it could look bad as president'.

Zapatero: 'There is another factor you have to consider. That is, if you instill a lot of pessimism, if you don't say anything positive...'

Lara (interrupting him) : 'No, no, you make the crisis worse, yes, yes. ..'

Zapatero: 'That's what we're doing.'

Lara: '...but let the the Economy Minister, the Industry Minister affect optimism and the president be reserved. That's what I mean.' ”

Well, it seems we get a lot of optimism from Zapatero, Solbes and others, but not much action. Meanwhile, other Sunday headlines about the economy were not so optimistic: "The worst is yet to come" , "Everything about the crisis" , and one headline which quoted the President of the European Bank, "We must stay alert, now is not the time for complacency." It sounds like others believe that optimistic talk is not realistic.

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To be fair, from this consumer's viewpoint there was at least one good piece of news that came out this weekend: Spain's state-regulated electricity prices will not rise by the 11.3 percent the industry was hoping for. During an interview with the radio network Cadena Ser, Zapatero said the increase would be close to the rise in inflation. "The National Energy Commission proposal is not going to be adopted by the Government of Spain," he stated. Spain's inflation hit a record high of 4.7 percent in May, so I am hoping rates won't go up much more than 5%. If that's what happens, many of us in Spain will let out a “Phew!” of relief while bracing ourselves for whatever comes next in this non-crisis that the government seems dead set on being so upbeat about.

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Hasta luego amig@s,
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Carloz

Bad news: Barcelona 20; Madrid 24

This was the "score" that made headlines here last week, but it wasn't soccer results -- it was about how expensive the two major Spanish cities have become. So, "Barcelona, tan cara como Nueva York" ("Barcelona, as expensive as New York") screamed the front page of Barcelona's La Vanguardia newspaper on March 19th.
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Sure enough, according to the latest "Prices and Earnings: comparison of purchasing power around the globe" report by the Swiss banking firm UBS, Barcelona is the 20th most expensive city in the world, while New York City is 18th. Madrid comes in at number 24. (FYI, the 5 most expensive cities according to USB are Oslo, Copenhagen, London, Dublin and Zurich -- in that order.)
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However, looking a little closer at the data, one can see that this first list, referred to as the "Prices" list has two columns -- one including rent costs and the other not. Therefore, according to UBS, Barcelona is the 20th most expensive city in the world for visitors, and Madrid number 24, etc.
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For a look at the cost of living in a city, one needs to look at the second column, which includes rent costs. Here Barcelona is ranked as the 26th most expensive city to live in, Madrid number 22 and New York City number 5. So, saying Barcelona is as expensive as New York city could be considered stretching things a bit -- but it certainly isn't cheap anymore! (By the way, according to this list, the most expensive city to live in is London followed by Oslo, Dublin and Copenhagen.)
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Another list in the report is called, "Domestic purchasing power including rent prices." Here Barcelona is ranked number 24, Madrid goes down to 30 and New York comes in at number 22. (The five most expensive cities in this grouping are Copenhagen, Zurich, Berlin, Geneva and Frankfurt.)
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Here are a few interesting quotes from the report:

• "The euro has continued its extraordinary ascent."


• "...Eurozone cities are even more expensive."


• "In 2006, Barcelona and Hong Kong were similarly costly. Now the Catalonian port city is 22% more expensive than the Chinese one."

Well, it seems from this report that Europe is the most expensive part of the world to live in today. As for the Euro, I have definitely seen a substantial increase in the cost of living since it was introduced in 2001. And I can personally attest to how much more it costs me to live in Barcelona than it did in previous years.
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In 2005 someone on a forum about life in Spain asked me how much I usually spent on groceries and sundries. Since I keep my supermarket receipts that was easy for me to answer -- at the time it was typically between 120 and 130 euros a month. Looking at current receipts, I can say that today I regularly spend between 165 and 175 a month.
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I need to mention that I am single and relatively frugal. Certainly there are single people who spend less than me on groceries and such, but there are probably many more who spend a greater amount than I do to eat each month.
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In closing, let me mention another report that made the news this week: Personal Income and the Risk of Poverty in Catalonia by IDES-CAT, the Statistical Institute of Catalonia. According to this study, 19% of the Catalan population falls beneath the poverty threshold. This means that 19 out of every 100 people living in Catalonia live on less than 689 euros a month!
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While I know many "mileruistas" who struggle by on about 1,000 euros a month, it must be incredibly difficult to get by on less than 689 -- especially on one's own. Sharing an apartment would be a must on such an income. Indeed, it is for many people above the poverty level.
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IDES-CAT also reported the following:

• 30% of people surveyed reported that they had difficulty making ends meet each month;
• only 4 out of ten persons surveyed stated that they had NO difficulty making ends meet;
• income is 22.3% lower in households headed by women;
• households that suffer the most economically are those made up of foreigners and those with divorced or separated heads of households;

And on that cheery note, I need to head out to do my weekly marketing.
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Chao amig@s,
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Carloz

STOP TIPPING SO MUCH! Spain's Economy Minister says Spanish public doesn't know the value of a euro

At 4.1%, Spain's inflation rate is currently higher than other euro zone countries. Economy Minister Pedro Solbes apparently believes that part of the reason for this is the failure of Spaniards to understand the value of the euro.

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At an economic forum held on Saturday he said, "We Spaniards haven't internalized the value of a euro, which can be seen in bars and cafes. When people leave tips, they don't take into account that 20 cents is worth 32 pesetas and that one euro is worth 166 pesetas. They often leave a tip that's 50% the value of the product."

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Before the euro replaced the peseta in 2002, Spaniards were in the habit of leaving 25 peseta tips in cafes, which would have equaled somewhere between 10 and 15 cents.

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While Solbes added that he believes inflation will return to below 3% before next March, he admitted that he was wrong when he said some years ago that the euro had not had an inflationary effect as a result of merchants rounding up prices at the time of the conversion from the peseta.

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"When I was in Brussels (as the EU Economic Affairs Commissioner), I said the opposite, but now I can say that the euro has had an inflationary effect on low cost items."

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So, why should we now believe his predictions about inflation? ¡¿?!

Interesting results from Spanish surveys, studies, reports, etc.

GUESS WHICH WORLD LEADER SPANIARDS CONSIDER TO BE THE WORST. If you guessed US President George Bush, you were only off by two. Bush came in third to last, behind Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the pentultimate position, leaving Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to reign as the international leader held in lowest esteem.
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This terrible trinity of the worst was the result of a poll of 12,000 Spaniards conducted by the Elcano Royal Institute (Real Instituto Elcano), a Spanish think-tank. The survey, which was carried out between November 26th and December 3rd, had Chávez finishing last in the popularity poll with a 1.4 ranking. Next came Castro at 1.9, Bush at 2.2, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega at 2.9 and Russia's Vladimir Putin rounding out the bottom at 3.4. The most respected leaders were EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, with a 6.2 rating, followed by former IMF director Rodrigo Rato with 6.1, German Chancellor Angela Merkel with 5.8, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a tie at 5.3.
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MOST SPANIARDS SUPPORT ZAPATERO'S FOREIGN POLICY, according to the same Elcano study. Of the respondents, 54% view the Spanish Prime Minister's foreign policy efforts positively, while 39% take a negative view.
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CONSUMER PRICE INDEX UP AGAIN according to statistics released on Friday by Spain's National Statistics Institute (NIE). November's CPI was 4.1% compared with 3.6% in October. In addition, the European Central Bank, in its monthly economic bulletin released the day before, noted that inflation has risen in Spain, Portugal and the euro zone in general.
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SPANIARDS UP TO THEIR NECKS IN DEBT according to a study by The General Association of Consumers (La Asociación General de Consumidores), ASGECO. The Study of Family Indebtedness (Estudio sobre el endeudamiento de las familias) released by the organization last week reported that 40% of Spanish households have difficulty making ends meet each month, only 30% have money left over at the end of the month, and nearly 60% face the possibility of having to obtain a second mortgage on their homes.
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BARCELONA HAS THE HIGHEST CINEMA TICKET PRICES IN SPAIN AND CORDOBA THE LOWEST according to a comparison done by FACUA.org Consumers in Action (Consumidores en Acción). The survey of movie ticket prices at 104 cinemas in thirty-three cities across Spain found that the price of admission can vary up to 90% nation-wide. Barcelona, A Coruña and Madrid have the most expensive cinemas, against Jaén, Cadiz and Cordoba, the lowest priced. The average price nationally is 5.41 euros. Ticket prices have risen 3.6% over 2006, when the previous study found an average price of 5.22 euros. The average was 5.05 euros in 2005, 4.80 in 2004 and 4.62 in 2003.
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In the report, FACUA denounced as illegal the practice of prohibiting movie-goers from bringing with them beverages or food from outside cinemas. The association recommends that consumers request a complaint form from cinemas to denounce this irregularity, since it is a violation of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. (La Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios.)
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TWO OUT OF EVERY TEN RAMBLERS ARE LOCALS according to a study by the Barcelona NGO Friends of The Rambla (Amigos de La Rambla / Amics de La Rambla). Only 2 out of every 10 people who walk along Barcelona's Las Ramblas are Barcelonans, whereas nearly 60% are foreign tourists. Another 20% or so are visitors, too, but from Spain rather than abroad, with about 10% of these from other parts of Cataluña.

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Of those surveyed, 34% said that Las Ramblas' diversity and cosmopolitanism was what attracted them most; 20% felt there were usually too many people on the famous paseo; 15% indicated that they felt insecure and vulnerable to theives and 5% were there in order to get to La Boqueria public market. The most traveresed section is between Plaza Cataluña and Plaza Real. Most people enter Las Ramblas from Plaza Cataluña, whereas the point of access least frequented is Arc del Teatre street.

Spain's Sunday News: Dalí, Photos, DNA, Music and Money, Money, Money, Money

Dalí Photos - El Pais announced today that Salvador Dalís former photographer and personal assistant, Robert Descharnes, is exhibiting 147 of the thousands of photos he took of Dalí and his muse, Gala, at the Municipal Museum of Cadaqués until January of next year. The photos focus on the Catalan artist's relationship with the coastal town and the nearby village of Port Lligat.

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The 83 year old French photographer said he is computerizing and cataloguing the more than 60,000 photographs that he took of Dalí and Gala over 40 years of friendship with the couple.

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Note: this photo (Dalí with ocelot) was not taken by Robert Descharnes, but by Roger Higgins.

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Dalí DNA - Descharnes revealed to El Pais that he has provided samples of Dalí's DNA to American scientific experts for the purpose of obtaining the genetic map of the surrealist icon. He apparently obtained the samples from the tubes inserted into Dalí's nose when the painter was last hospitalized. Descharnes claims that due to Dalí's genius a study of his DNA would contribute much to science.

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Test for buskers - Musicians now have to pass a test in order to perform in the Metro, Barcelona's subway system. El Pais reported that some 80 musicians auditioned yesterday before officials of the Street Musicians Association of Barcelona (Amuc BCN) and the Barcelona Transportation Metropolitan agency for permission to perform in Metro stations and trains. "The objective is to guarantee minimum standards," stated Hugo Guerrero, president of Amuc.

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Until now, permission to perform was given to anyone who registered with Amuc. Esther Ayala of TMB explained that the audition was organized because the previous system did not work well, which resulted in people who did not really know how to play or sing performing.

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Reportedly many of those who tried out yesterday were Latin-American guitarists and Eastern-European accordionists and the most were successful in their bids. "Between 85% and 90% were approved," according to Guerrero.

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Have you seen any 500 euro bills lying around? Apparently there are over 113 million of them in Spain, worth over 56,529 million euros, but they aren't seen very often. Spain's Tax Office has been has been investigating the situation for years, but to little avail. In fact, this past May a record number of 500 euro bills in circulation was reached, according to the Bank of Spain -- 64,3% of the total currency in Spain!

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Spaniards humorously refer to the bank notes as "Bin Ladens" because hardly anyone claims to have seen one. El Pais noted that over the past year the number of 200 euro notes in circulation has increased, too -- from 19 to 21 million.

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What do you think is going on?!