steviedeluxe

How much bad news can there be? Who'd be a politician who has to announce 50 billion worth of cuts?

Streaming site live (in Spanish) is meant to be here

http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/Multimed...tos/Senal_CMin

updates here in English

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...sis-pain-spain

steviedeluxe

Is that right - VAT to stay unchanged, but some increases in corporation tax? Opposite to the UK if so.

Ouch - Electricity bills up by 7% in April.

Lynn R

The electricity price rise will be a problem for all those already struggling to make ends meet. There are bound to be more cuts to services arising from the increased cuts to Departmental budgets announced today, but we won't know what effect they will have until more details are announced.

amideislas

"Spain will stop being a problem for the union"? really? As Spain becomes even more impoverished, I'd tend to expect it to become more of a problem. Typical EU thinking.

By the way, I missed the part about the electricity increase, but what could that possibly have to do with austerity? It is a tax increase, or a profit increase?

rachelk

In 2010 the PP declared that a fiscal amnesty would be unfair and antisocial.

It would appear they've changed their minds. Again.

Fred James

They had already announced a 7% rise. It's not a tax as such. The government subsidises electricity prices for most domestic customers and has been doing so for a long time. By removing some of this subsidy the price charged by the electricity suppliers will go up.

amideislas

Thanks, Fred, but I find the concept of a "subsidy" rather confusing, since we already pay some of the highest energy prices in all of Europe. I wonder what the rates would be without the alleged "subsidy". I reckon we're going to find out!

Note: This again smells very much like high prices resulting from strict regulation (supposedly for our benefit), as opposed to lower prices as the result of competition (where we'd pay less, but it's somehow unfair to us).

cricketman

Spanish electricity prices are some of highest in Europe because Spain has no oil reserves of its own and very little nuclear energy. So it relies on expensive renewable energy and importing oil and gas. Very expensive

The plan is for the subsidy for vanish in the next few years so if you are finding heating bills hard to pay for then maybe go somewhere hot for the winter or put one of those winter daytime dressing gowns on

I've been seeing estate agents the last few days who say that people dont wont flats with high ceilings because they cant afford the heating bills. We are seeing a paradigm shift back towards very small well insulated flats. Well, at least in the North. Insulation not so good down south..those in the traditional villlage houses are best off there

cricketman

The PP are thieving bandits

They opposed everything the PSOE proposed to get them out of power. Now they are passing laws to legalize the thievery and fraud that their own members have committed

The PP and their mates are looking to establish themselves as the families with the 1% of the assets. A bit like what happened in the US 80 years ago. These same families have all the assets today

bob_bob

To be honest, this is a grim budget and my heart goes out to Spain

bealerDSB

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17557172

This bit caught my eye.

But they can expect higher living costs as Energy Minister Jose Manuel Soria announced a 7% rise in electricity bills and 5% rise gas bills from 1 April.

DSB.

Matusa1978

I changed my electricity supplier a couple of months ago,they gave me a fixed rate for 2years.I wasn't sure at first if I'd done the right thing but looking at that budget and reading stuff on the net I recon i got a good deal

Fred James

Don't be surprised if they find a way round it and put it up anyway on the basis that the tariff is government controlled.

jackytoo

Not sure why all the media is concentrating on the 7% rise on electric It wasn't part of the austerity budget, was announced a week ago and it usually increases at this time of the year.

Details of budget are a bit scrappy, seen health spending is reduced by 13.7 and education a bit more. Some of the international papers seem to think the cuts don't go deep enough.

steviedeluxe

Reading the elEconomista website it appears that the major cuts will be in the Fomento and Exteriores ministeries.
I think that if you accept that a cut in the deficit is necessary (and it appears that it is if Spain wishes to stay in the Euro * ), then cuts in spending are preferable to hitting people still harder with extra taxation, which would be counter-productive. For example if they had raised IVA then more sales would have just been done in the black economy, already large.
One thing the PP were good at, the last time they were in power, was creating employment. It's true a large element of that was via the property boom, but even so I suspect quite a few unemployed in that sector would welcome a return to demand for their services. If the PP can (and it's a big if) encourage investment in the country, whether it be Apple opening up new stores, or Casino owners opening up new theme complexes, then maybe the PP can do it again.

* I have to admit I thought Spain would be getting ready to leave the Euro by Spring. Maybe they will stick it out after all???