It has being a long time in coming but it would appear that the Ministry of Employment has finally heard the cries of thousands of self-employed business owners in Spain with regards to their right to unemployment benefits. Due to the economy’s poor state of affairs, many self-employed people have had to say goodbye to their dreams and hard work as the current climate has made it impossible for them to maintain their businesses afloat. This is also true for thousands of workers who have lost their jobs but the difference is they at least the right to unemployment benefits until they manage to find other employment, sadly, this in not the case for those who are self-employed.
In another valiant attempt to recover from Spain’s property crash and to offload uncountable properties for sale on their books, Bankia, has launched its first eBay style property auctions. More than one thousand properties from SAREB bad bank have been made available to bidders from 43.393€ and in many cases, the newly reduced price is 40% lower than the original sale price, which is excellent news for cash buyers.
The Canary Islands are a popular choice when it comes to the purchase of a holiday home. Countless foreigners fall in love with the islands and decide to buy their own place to enjoy with their families in a more private setting instead of booking in at a hotel. Many choose to rent these properties out short-term so that they are not empty while the owners aren’t using them themselves and so that the property pays for itself, generating a small income.
Thousands of British tourists travel to Fuerteventura each year and what better way to explore the island than to rent a car to have the means to go where you please? Well, drivers beware you do not commit parking or speeding offences because it can catch up with you.
Every month more than 2,500 Brits are chased by European authorities upon returning from their holiday and private companies investigate an astonishing number of cases each day in an attempt to bring bad drivers to justice.
As much as it pains me to write this story, it is still highly relevant because Standards and Poor’s rating service has downgraded Spain’s Canary Islands today from A+ to AA-, which only demonstrates Spain’s current financial struggle.
This is a massive blow to the region but the credit rater has also warned that the region could suffer further downgrades as it has been flagged with a “creditwatch negative status”. This basically warns of problematic public finances and high unemployment issues stemming from the year 2008 which has worsened over time. From data received in September of this year, unemployment stands at approximately 25% and is predicted to increase over the upcoming year.
