The Rouble and Spain

The sudden fall of the value of the Russian Rouble must have some affect on the Spanish economy especially in the tourist trade and construction industry.

During the last few years Russians have been persuaded by the tourist industry not only to visit Spain but to purchase property. It was hoped they would replace the British/German/Dutch and Norwegians who were no longer buying property.

Those Russians who have bought property will be in a good position financially but new comers will find property prices very expensive due to Russia's currency problems. Will this lead to further falls in the value of properties ?

Where will the construction industry turn to now ? I would imagine that the Chinese or Indian buyers will only be interested in the major cities and not the coastal tourist areas.

Watch developments with interest.

Eurozone Aid

Spain's finance minister has confirmed that they will seek financial aid to help prop up the ailing banking system.


Madrid insists that this is not a rescue and not all banks need money.


A formal request has not been made but her eurozone partners would be prepared to lend them up to 100bn euros. Two independent audits of the banking system should be published 21st June and that will reveal how much cash is needed.


We home owners will now have to wait and see what happens next to property values and taxes.


Watch this space.....


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Unpaid electric and gas bills ..

Electric and gas bills are not being paid in Spain and the main culprits are the town halls.

Unesa which represents Iberdrola SA, Endesa SA, E-On AG, Gas Natural SDG SA and HC Energia says the five power companies are owed about 500 million euro.

It looks like stormy times ahead for the Spanish economy.

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CAM

The CAM Bank has been bought by the Banco Sabadell SA for one euro - I realised that the CAM was in a bad way but this news came as a surprise.

Having only a current account used for paying bills I am not too concerned however I do hope that our current branch in Guardamar remains open.

Recently the Guardamar branch of Barclays closed which I did find annoying - Barclays as far as I was concerned provided the best deal when it came to taking cash from my current UK account at an ATM.

Now I must travel to Barclays in Torrevieja or Alicante if I do not want to be hit by high commission costs.

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Euro crisis

A Bloomberg report of the 9/12 suggests that some European CEO's believe that Spain will exit the euro and return to the peseta.

Already firms are making plans to move money to German banks or move their headquarters to northern Europe.

What are the consequences for the holiday maker or expat residing in Spain?

If Spain was to return to the peseta and then devalue it would make the country a cheaper place to visit ( assuming Sterling retains it's worth ), expats on a pension would receive a higher income but the value of our holiday homes and residences would reduce even further.

It's all swings and roundabouts.

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Barclays

Over the weekend it was rumoured in the UK Press that Barclays were considering buying one of Spain's regional banks.

This report comes after the Barclays' boss Bob Diamond met Prime Minister Zapatero in Madrid last week.

Barclays would not comment but it is understood that they would not want to be responsible for any historic debt.

My money is on the CAM Bank being the intended target - they have a huge debt problem and are failing to meet criteria set by the Bank of Spain. Barclays will find that a merger will bring big saving to their current activities in Spain.

We await further news with interest.

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