Economic growth and corruption

Editorial Opinion

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Luis alcaide 200

“Relevant and well-meaning citizens demand the resignation of the president. Step aside and appoint a substitute”.

Luis Alcaide
Luis Alcaide

Without credible policies, a market economy, the Spanish one for example, cannot function well,” state Paul Krugman and Martin Wolf regarding the uncertainty experienced and projected from the hegemonic country. The Spanish economy, as described by economic indicators, is functioning reasonably well. The day after Santos Cerdán was imprisoned, the latest employment figures and the number of contributors to Social Security were released. Records in both cases. The growth of employment, which is not the same as the number of resident citizens, determines the evolution of wealth. The evolution of GDP coincides with the ups and downs in the number of employed workers. Similarly, more contributors to Social Security mitigate the risks when it comes to addressing pensions. If there is more employment and more growth, tax debt grows less than wealth. The country is solvent. But there is corruption and its tentacles. Relevant and well-meaning citizens demand the resignation of President Sánchez. Step aside, Mr Sánchez, and appoint a substitute. There are plenty of good professionals, there you have the Minister of Economy. There are also politicians with guts, there you have Patxi López and lost in Europe a Mr Iceta who would do very well as a political presenter.

Spain is not breaking apart. It has substance and ultimately, if things get complicated, Sánchez can step aside. Let us remember that in the 2018 motion of censure, what was requested to withdraw it was nothing other than Rajoy's resignation as president. Sánchez's socialist government and its allies have navigated well, even very well, the blows of the pandemic and the remedies applied. GDP fell by almost 10% with tourism vanished and the measures taken at that time allowed for growth year after year without company closures or strikes. Productivity is something difficult to evaluate but there we have the evidence from Spain’s foreign trade. The deficits in the balance of payments have been surpluses since 2014. Bravo for the exports of goods and services. Not just tourism. Ultimately, a competitive market economy without its potential being diminished by the minimum wage while the cost of public debt is increasingly lower. And in the meantime, in Catalonia, non-nationalist parties received more votes in the last legislative elections than the sum of Junts and ERC. There are no hidden ballot boxes or armed forces on board mother ships in the port of Barcelona. Pardons and amnesty have pacified the territory. In the capital of the kingdom, there is a concentration of associations of judges and prosecutors without respect for what is established by Article 28 of the Constitution. Judicial associations do not have the legitimacy to call strikes, as the CGPJ has pointed out, without a legal support backing them. Curiosities: Blackrock, the largest financial fund, invites investment in Spain, a solid economy with a stock market revaluation of 21% in the first half. Finally, the newspaper Expansión comments that in the Canalejas square, the price per square metre rises to 33,000 euros. Capitalists maintain their bet on Spain.♦

Luis alcaide 200
Luis Alcaide
Economist for the Spanish Government since 1961. He has been a state advisor in the European Union and director of Communications at the Bank of Spain. He has published editorial articles in El País (1977-1983) and in Diario 16 (1985-1988), and regularly contributes to Economía Exterior and Política Exterior. He is a founding member of Grupo Consejeros.

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