Spain and Italy riskiest in Europe

According to a survey of 196 nations by British risk-assessment company Maplecroft, Spain and Italy are the only two countries in the Western world representing a medium risk for business to invest in.

As shown on the map in this press release (mostly talking about the extreme cases like Russia), all countries in Western Europe or North America represent a low risk, except Spain and Italy!

Spain is the 31st freest economy

The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have just issued a joint paper on economic opportunity and prosperity across the world. It ranks countries according to the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom based on criteria such as Business Freedom, Trade Freedom, Government Spending, Property Rights, Freedom from Corruption, Labor Freedom…

The full list of the ranking can be viewed here. The freest economies are Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Interestingly the USA rank 9th, UK – 16th, Germany – 23rd, Spain – 31st, France – 64th, Russia – 143rd.

Here is the summary for Spain:
Spain’s economic freedom score is 70.2, making its economy the 31st freest in the 2011 Index. Its score is 0.6 point higher than last year, reflecting improvements in half of the 10 economic freedoms that offset a decline in freedom from corruption. Spain is ranked 17th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is well above the world average.

Spain’s economy performs well in business freedom, trade freedom, and investment freedom. Business formation procedures have become streamlined, and the overall entrepreneurial environment supports private-sector development. Steps taken in 2010 to reform the labor market make it less costly to dismiss a permanent worker and give employers more control of employee organization.

Challenges include fiscal freedom, government spending, and labor freedom. Total government spending is over 40 percent of GDP. Wage growth has outpaced that in other European countries, and home ownership has been heavily subsidized. Recent large fiscal deficits and rising public debt necessitate sound public financial management and a return to a sustainable level of public spending.

New born names in Andalucia

The Statistic Institute of Andalucia just released the popularity ranking of names given to new born in Andalucia for 2009.

The most popular name for girls is Maria, followed by Lucia, Paula and Daniela. The name with the highest popularity increase is Leyre.

The most popular name for boys is Alejandro, followed by Daniel, Pablo and Alvaro. The name with the highest popularity increase is Rayan.

Surprising mortality statistics in Andalucia

The Andalucian Institute of Statistics just issued a press release about the mortality rate during the 2nd trimester of 2009 saying that the number of deaths in Andalucia decreased by 8.4% (!) compared to the same period in 2008.

More than half of the deaths were due to three causes: circulatory system (34.4%), tumors (26.1%), respiratory system (10.2%).

I find surprising that such a significant decrease in mortality rate took place right at the heart of the crisis. I guess stress is much higher when there is work than when there isn’t any…(!)

Two years of water for Marbella

On World Water Day, the Sur reported on the water reservoirs of the Malaga province. In total, they hold 94% of their capacity. This is the highest level registered since 1998 and it guarantees enough water for the next two years in the province.

The Costa del Sol is well covered, as the Concepcion reservoir is now at full capacity with 62 cubic hectometers. The only negative note is that, due to the limited capacity of that reservoir, 60 cubic hectometers (almost as much as is retained) were released to the sea. Hopefully, we won’t miss that water in the next few years…

Tough times for Andalucia

The Junta de Andalucia reported that the entrepreneurs’ confidence index in Andalucia was at -61.52 for the third quarter of 2009, and at -70.61 for the first quarter of 2010, indicating general pessimism all around. The press release added that the index for the industrial sector was in the “bad” zone, while for the construction and service sectors it was in the “very bad” zone.

Only 6.9% of companies reported that their situation was better in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008. 47.7% considered the situation similar to last year, and 45.4% worse than last year.

Eurostat data paints bleak picture

Here are some of the latest official statistics released by the European Commission.

* Unemployment keeps rising – The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in January 2010, the same as in December 2009. It was 8.5% in January 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.5% in January 2010, unchanged compared with December 2009. It was 8.0% in January 2009.

* Inflation is steady -Euro area annual inflation was 1.0% in January 2010, up from 0.9% in December 2009. A year earlier the rate was 1.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.8% in January 2010.

* No growth on industrial new orders – In December 2009 compared with November 2009, the euro area (EA16) industrial new orders index rose by 0.8%, after +2.7% in November. In the EU27 new orders increased by 0.6% in December 2009, after +2.4% in November. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders fell by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU27 in December.

* Tourism is down – In 2009, nearly 1.5 billion nights were spent in hotels and similar establishments in the EU27, a decrease of 5.1% compared with 2008, after an annual change of -0.2% in 2008 and +3.5% in 2007. The number of hotel nights spent by residents in their own country in 2009 fell by 1.6% and hotel nights spent by non-residents fell by 9.1%.

* Little change in construction – In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production increased by 0.5% in both the euro area (EA16) and the EU27 in December 2009, compared with the previous month. In November, production fell by 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.

Do you still think that the crisis is over?

Tourism in Andalucia – Q4 2009

Here is a summary of the latest statistics issued by the Junta de Andalucia regarding tourism in the region during the last quarter of 2009.

* Almost 3.9 million tourists visited Andalucia in Q4 2009. It represents a 10.1% reduction versus the same quarter of 2008.

* 62.9% of visitors were from Spain, while 37.1% came from abroad.

* 86.1% of visitors came on holidays, 7.1% to visit friends or relatives.

* 74.2% of visitors stayed in hotels, 24.6% stayed in apartments or villas.

* The average stay was 7.2 days.

* Province breakdown: 31.7% of visitors stayed in Malaga, 15.7% in Sevilla, 15.1% in Granada, 12.5% in Cadiz.

* Average daily spending: 60.15 euros – 5% more than in Q4 2008.

* Visitors rated their stay as 7.1 over 10. The highest rated provinces were Cordoba, Sevilla, Jaen.

Random police checks in Marbella

It is the third time in a couple of months that, driving in day time by La Cañada, I saw police officers stop cars, apparently in a random fashion, to check drivers´ documentation. I was personally not stopped.

I am wondering whether this is just part of a normal procedure or a consequence of increasing insecurity in the area… With the crisis and the raising unemployment, common sense would tend to expect more thefts and general offenses. I have not found any recent statistics regarding civil protection in Marbella to corroborate that fact. I will keep searching.

In the mean time, if you have any data to share or a strong opinion about the subject, just let me know. Thanks.

Andalucia tourism in Q3 2009

The Andalucia Statistics Institute just published the results of the latest survey about tourism in Andalucia. Here are some of the major points:
- 8.1 million tourists visited Andalucia during the third quarter of 2009, 10.8% less than the same quarter in 2008.
- 64.2% of the visitors were Spanish and 35.8% foreigners.
- 60.7% of the visitors stayed in hotels, while 31.3% stayed in a flat or villa.
- The average duration of the stay was 11.6 days.
- Malaga was the province most visited (37.5% of the visitors), followed by Cadiz, Almeria and Granada. Sevilla attracted only 7.9% of the visitors.
- Average daily spending per visitor was 57.84 euros, or 0.7% more than the same quarter of 2008.