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Articles by Carlos Díaz Guell

About the Author

Carlos Díaz Guell
Editor at consensodelmercado.com and innovaspain.com, Carlos began his career in financial journalism as founding member of El País. He's been communications director of Bank of Spain, member of the ECC at the European Central Bank, Institutional Relations director at Iberia and editor at La Economía 16 magazine.
Spain is not just an exporting country, but also one which invests abroad

Interviews 7th May 2018

“Spain Is Not Just An Exporting Country, But An Investor Abroad”

Ana Fuentes/Carlos Díaz Güell | “We were a very poor country which in the last 40 years has made a spectacular transformation. Today there are over 150,000 companies which export regularly and have exported at least in the last three years”, explains Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros, High Commissioner for the Spain Brand (Marca España), and privileged observer of the economic reality in Spain and how its business class has evolved over the last few decades.

Spain's banking sector

Spanish economy 19th December 2016

Spain’s Banking Sector In 2020: Seven Lenders Remaining?

A lot of matters need to be addressed in Spain’s banking sector in the next four years. Urgent matters are the full privatisation of Bankia and the irrelevant BMN; completing the transformation of the savings banks (La Caixa, Kutxabank, Ibercaja, Unicaja and Liberbank), the adjustment of Banco Popular and the retirement of the post-war bankers.

Populism vs populism

World economy 14th December 2016

Economic populism threatens to prevail amongst both the right and the left

Reliable economists coincide in assuring us that if populists like Podemos got into power, it would mean a “a fast and intense” deterioration in GDP. But social inequality, characterised in the developed countries by the empoverishment of the middle class, is already causing alarm bells to ring in the economic world which pays more attention to global trends.

Spanish R&D spending grows again in 2017 after 2016 slowdown, but still in pre-crisis levels

Spanish economy 11th December 2016

Spain’s R&D Ranks In An Unpretentious Second Division

Irrespective of what kind it is, research generates numerous commercial applications which can be profitable for the companies who promote them, while making countries more powerful and turning them into global scientific references. And so what about Spain? There is an increasingly more intense brain drain amongst young Spanish researchers. They are snatched by foreign universities to develop an activity which here in Spain is limited, fundamentally for budget reasons.

Madrid radial highways

Spanish economy 2nd December 2016

This Time The Financial Rescue In Spain Is For Highways

The idea of motorways which would help decongest access to Madrid began to take shape in the first half of the 1990s and the project was completed in 2000. At that time it was a win-win situation for both investors and citizens. Now these highways have gone bankrupt and will need to be rescued, which could cost the public coffers nearly 900 million euros.

 

Spain defence spending

World economy 28th November 2016

More Deficit?: Spain Obliged To Double Defence Budget

Someone like Donald Trump emerging on the world stage threatens to make too many changes in the status quo, some of which will have a particular impact on Europe’s economies and especially Spain. One area which appears likely to progress at a cruising speed in the short and medium-term is Defence spending. This is a particularly sensitive issue and one which Obama already tried to have modified during his mandate.

Spanish budget

Spanish economy 24th November 2016

Spain Budget Continues To Miss Opportunities

Rajoy’s minority government will face the first big challenge of its new term in office with the presentation of the 2017 State Budget. This could be a good opportunity to start from scratch and implement much needed reforms.

renewables

Spanish economy 16th November 2016

Too Many Unresolved Issues For New Spanish Energy Minister

Energy sector analysts have received Spain’s new Energy Minister with a sense of satisfaction, pointing out that most of the electricity reform has been implemented, although there are a few aspects still to be regulated. This is too simple a version coming from a sector accustomed to having a low profile. And one which, despite the latest modifications, charges Spaniards one of the most expensive electricity tariffs in Europe, according to Eurostat.

companies' profitability

Spanish economy 14th November 2016

Spanish Companies Are Busy, Busy: Particularly Overseas

Spanish companies like Santander, Zara, Freixenet, ACS, Repsol, Roca, Iberdrola, Abertis, Telefónica, Melia or Ferrovial, to mention only a very few, are the companies which are behind this internationalisation of our country’s economy. Over the last few years, they have given a considerable boost to the Spanish economy’s presence across the globe.