catalan

According to a figures released by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE), Catalonia’s annual inflation rate fell from 2.6% to 2.1% between June and July. This is the second lowest annual inflation rate that Catalonia has experienced this year, with the lowest being during April when the figure was 1.8%. July’s annual inflation rate in Catalonia is higher than that of the whole of Spain, which is set at 1.8%. The main reason for this fall on last year’s results can be explained because of the lower rate of increases in electricity prices (compared to last year’s rise), as well as the end of the statistical effect of the pharmaceutical co-payment, which was implemented in July 2012 and significantly raised the consumer price of drugs.

The number of public employees in Catalonia has been reduced by 4.76% over the last year, while in the whole of Spain the reduction was of 3.97%, due to the budget cuts in the public sector. However, the number of civil servants in Catalonia was already significantly lower than the Spanish average, according to a study issued by the SME association PIMEC. In January 2013, there were 40.7 civil servants for every 1,000 inhabitants in Catalonia, while the Spanish average was 57.4 and it reached 79.6 in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. In fact, 26.7% of the Extremadura’s workforce is employed in the public sector, while the percentage drops to 11.1% in Catalonia. PIMEC stated in its report that, if Catalonia had the same proportion of public employees as the Spanish average, its unemployment rate would drop from 24.5% to 20.5%, with 150,000 fewer jobseekers.

Last week, the Catalan Ombudsman issued a report stating that 4% of children in Catalonia under the age of 16 suffer from food deprivation (50,000 children) and he linked it to the current economic crisis. The Primary Care section of the Catalan Society of Paediatrics refutes the Ombudsman’s report warning that the known cases of undernourished children in Catalonia are due to illness and not to financial problems. They stated there are 750 children with food deprivation and most of whom have chronic diseases that cause malnutrition, such as metabolic disorders, neoplasia or anorexia nervosa. They emphasise that nowadays it is incorrect to talk about children with food deprivation in Catalonia for economic reasons, but they are concerned about the future.

Maspons was one of the greatest Catalan photographers of all time. He is famous for his pictures of the former Somorrostro slum in the Barceloneta beach, party life in Ibiza during the 1970s and Barcelona’s left-wing group of bourgeois intellectuals from the 1970s, known as ‘Gauche Divine’. Maspons worked mostly in Catalonia, but also in Paris and the States. In fact, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibits pictures taken by Oriol Maspons. He received top honours in Catalonia, such as the Catalan Government’s Sant Jordi Cross and Barcelona City’s Gold Medal. In 2010, he donated his private collection of some 5,500 pictures to Catalonia’s National Museum of Art (MNAC), which will organise a “large exhibition” on his work.

The Landscape of the Geniuses tourism project celebrates how the Province of Tarragona (south Catalonia) has influenced the work of four world renowned artists: Antoni Gaudí, Joan Miró, Pau Casals and Pablo Picasso. The route focuses on four municipalities in the Costa Daurada and the Ebro Valley, in which these artists spent a considerable amount of time, and explore how the region left a lasting impression and inspired them in the creation of their work. The route involves 270 points of interest and accommodation facilities that include: museums, architecture, restaurants, hotels and campsites. A tourist card gives access to all of the visitor centres along the route as well as numerous discounts.

Both Barcelona-El Prat and Madrid-Barajas received 3.8 million passengers during the month of July, a figure which represents an increase of 0.3% for the Catalan and a decrease of 14.4% for Madrid’s compared to July 2012. The figures released by Aena, the public body that controls the majority of Spain’s airports, show that El Prat records its highest ever amount of passengers for the month of July and, up until now, a total of 20 million people have passed through its gates this year. Girona airport had 384,187 passengers, a reduction of 1.8%. While Reus airport (south Catalonia) saw passenger levels rise by 0.7% compared to July of 2012 with a total of 166,984.

Since 1986, the Catalan Government has its own lottery system, which brought a profit of €40 million last year. The Catalan lottery administration dedicates 60% of the revenue to prizes and the remaining 40% to finance public policies. In total, there are six lottery games, including scratch cards and lotto draws, but there are no specific draws for special days, as exists in the Spanish Government’s Christmas Lottery. After a proposal from representatives of shopkeepers’ associations, the Catalan Executive decided to launch a similar Christmas draw, with tickets worth 5 euros. 80% of the revenue will go towards prizes and 20% will finance children’s assistance programmes. €15 million will be put on sale. The opposition has been surprised by the initiative and stated they were hoping it was not the only measure to increase revenue.

According to data released by the Catalan Finance Ministry, the Catalan economy has stopped the fall in GDP during the second quarter of 2013, since it remained at the same rate of the previous quarter. There has been a slow strengthening of the Catalan economy over the last few months: the fourth quarter of 2012 saw a reduction of 0.7%, the first quarter of 2013 GDP only shrunk by 0.1% and during the second quarter it remained stable at 0% growth. The improvement has been due to the industrial sector, particularly thanks to the exportation of goods which made up for the sustained falling of domestic demand. However, compared to the same figures for last year, the Catalan economy decreased by 1.3%.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, officially announced on Tuesday that last year’s budget will be extended for the whole of 2013, since the 1.58% deficit target imposed by the Spanish Executive is too low and arrives too late. However, he explained that the budget extension guidelines will meet the 1.58% deficit target, because otherwise they would not have the money to pay for the additional spending. Furthermore, Mas announced they will take the “unfair and illegal split” of the deficit targets among the different government levels to court, since they consider the Spanish Government has not done it “in a proportional way”, since it keeps most of the deficit allowed for Spain’s total public sector for itself. Some opposition parties have strongly criticised the Catalan Government for extending the budget.

The President of the Regulatory Council of Priorat wine appellation, located in south-western Catalonia, is anticipating an excellent grape harvest this summer as there have been no major setbacks that have affected the evolution of the vineyards. The hot and dry weather during August has led to a process of maturation that is very favourable in terms of colour and there is a good balance between alcohol and acidity. The President of the Regulatory Council of the word-famous wine region, Toni Alcover, expects there to be a high quality harvest with a quantity in excess of 5.5 million kilograms of grapes.

The Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, announced on Monday that 4% of children under the age of 16 suffer from food deprivation. Almost 50,000 children are not eating meat or fish at least once every two days, meaning they do not have a sufficient intake of protein. However, Ribó rejected there was a structural problem of malnutrition and linked the phenomenon to the economic crisis’ effects. Ribó asked the Catalan Government to act immediately to ensure that all children have access to enough food. The Ombudsman proposed 33 recommendations to reduce the child poverty rate, which currently stands at 28%, with approximately 345,000 children under the age of 16 living in poverty. The rate of extreme poverty has also increased in recent years and affects a tenth of Catalan children (130,000).

The solvency ratio stood at 10.21% of the bank’s total resources, with 9.77% of core capital. Barcelona-based CatalunyaCaixa closed the first half of 2013 with a net profit of €183 million, which have met targets to recapitalise the bank. The interest margin reached €264 million, which represents a reduction of 5.9% as a result of a credit transfer to the publicly-owned banking management company Sareb. In spite of this, the reduction is less than the average decline seen in the sector as a whole and it has seen a remarkable growth during the first half of 2012 of 14.8%.

Container exports from the Port of Barcelona reached 276,566 TEU’s for the first half of this year, an increase of 12% on the same period of 2012. North Africa and the Far East have significantly grown as the destinations of exports from the Catalan harbour. Furthermore, among the highest exports are motor vehicles and bulk solid cargo such as cement. The Catalan Minister of Planning and Sustainability, Santi Vila, stressed the importance of the Port as an economic engine and the fact that it has changed itself from being an importer to an exporter of goods in recent years.

By the end of July there were 6,859 fewer people registered at the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC) than a month ago, which leaves the total number of registered unemployed individuals at 610,429. The current amount of jobseekers is now the same level as September 2011. Unemployment levels have been decreasing in Catalonia for the last five consecutive months. In addition, last July’s drop is the most significant reduction in this month of the year since 2010. In the whole of Spain, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.36%, with 64,866 fewer people registered at the Public Employment Service offices. This means that by the end of July there were 4,698,814 individuals registered as unemployed in Spain. The Catalan Government states that, if the trend is kept during the second semester, the economic crisis would have reached “its lowest level” earlier this year.

“2013 is done. We now need to think about 2014”, summed up the Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, after finding out about the 1.58% deficit target imposed yesterday by the Spanish Executive. Mas-Colell considers this target to be “intolerable” since it “asphyxiates” Catalonia. The Catalan Executive was waiting to find out this figure to approve its definitive budget for the current year, but considering the low deficit target it is now considering extending the 2012 budget for the whole of 2013 – as it has been doing so up until now. The Catalan Government will make the final decision on the issue next Tuesday. Furthermore, Mas-Colell warned that a €1.7 billion budget adjustment will be needed in 2014 that will be required to increase one-off revenue since the Catalan Government “cannot spend less than in 2013”.