MADRID, 20 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Congress has summoned the governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, for next Thursday to explain his ‘2021 Annual Report’, which shows that the recovery of the Spanish economy is the furthest behind in the Euro zone.
As parliamentary sources have informed Europa Press, De Cos will attend the Committee on Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation at the end of the plenary session on Thursday, so the appearance will not begin before mid-afternoon.
President Pedro Sánchez is scheduled to appear that day to report on the ‘Pegasus’ espionage scandal, a reform of the regulation and three legislative initiatives: the Audiovisual Communication Law, the sexual freedom law, and the equal treatment and discrimination.
In its analysis, the Bank of Spain highlights a level of activity in the Spanish economy during the first quarter of this year 3.4 percentage points below that observed before the start of the pandemic, while in the euro area as a whole the GDP exceeded its pre-crisis level by 0.4 points.
A fact that served the new general director of Economy and Statistics of this institution, Ángel Gavilán, to point out the Government’s management: “Of the big economies, we are the worst that has done it”, he assured in the previous presentation of the report to the media.
All this despite anticipating growth for this year higher than projected by the Government, 4.5% for 2022 compared to 4.3% estimated by the Executive, with the horizon of reaching activity levels in 2023.
Shortly after these statements were revealed, the Vice President of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, asked “not to take quotes out of context” and to keep “an overview” that, in the case of the Spanish economy, is of “a very strong this year.”
ESCRIVÁ IS REVOLVED BEFORE THE PENSION RECOMMENDATIONS
It has not been the only reply in the Executive to the conclusions and recommendations of the supervisory body, since the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, alluded to the “lack of sophistication” in his references on pensions, for not contribute “no new element that would make him change his mind about the sustainability of the system”. Likewise, he declared himself “very surprised” by the demand for an “automatic mechanism” when this type of rules, in the fiscal field, have ended up being “an overwhelming failure”.
In addition to these adjustment mechanisms, the Bank of Spain has asked not to link pensions to the CPI, with the exception of the lowest pensions, and has called for focusing support measures on the most affected sectors. In this sense, he considers that the discount of 20 cents per liter on fuel refueling is regressive, as it mainly benefits higher incomes.
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