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Stories written by A. S.

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Spanish economy shed 9,000 jobs a day in January

Spain’s labor market continued to hemorrhage jobs at the start of the year as the economy headed toward a double-dip recession in part fueled by an austerity drive.

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Santander’s profits fall 35 percent as bank takes hit on property assets

Banco Santander’s earnings last year fell sharply as Spain’s leading bank opted to take a big hit on the value of the real estate assets on its books in anticipation of a reform of the banking sector due to be unveiled by the government.

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Unemployment hits record high of over five million at end of 2011

Spain’s jobless rate hit its highest level in 16 years in the last quarter of the year when the economy contracted again as the number of people out of work climbed above five million for the first time ever, more than a fifth of the working population.

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Iberia cabin crew call off strike after agreement

Iberia on Wednesday signed an agreement with the representatives of its 4,000 cabin crew guaranteeing job security after the launch of its low-cost short-to-medium-haul carrier Iberia Express.

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Recession will see Spain miss deficit goals, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday predicted Spain would fall way short of its deficit reduction targets, just hours after the government reiterated its determination to meet the goals despite an impending recession.

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Bank of Spain predicts deep recession this year

The Bank of Spain on Monday predicted the domestic economy faced a deep recession, as the IMF warned of the risk of a “solvency crisis” for Spain and Italy if Europe fails to beef up its rescue fund.

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Minister wants budget busting to be a crime

A Spanish government minister on Tuesday threatened to press criminal charges against politicians that fail to keep their spending within budget.

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Tourist lobby forecasts slight growth this year

Spanish tourism lobby Exceltur on Monday predicted that the sector would remain one of the few bright spots this year in a depressing economic environment, but expressed concern about the possible impact of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster whic…

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BBVA takes 1-billion-euros hit against value of US goodwill

Spain’s second-biggest bank, BBVA, said Tuesday it would take a one-off charge against 2011 earnings of one billion euros as a result of a downward adjustment of goodwill on its US investments.

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Economic relapse drives jobless numbers to new record highs

Jobless claims in Spain rose for the fifth month in a row in December to record highs as the economy’s weak recovery from its worst recession in living memory evaporated.

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Iberia-BA buys Lufthansa’s BMI unit for 207 million euros

IAG, the holding company for the merger of British Airways and Iberia, on Thursday said it had sealed an agreement with Lufthansa to acquire its loss-making British Midlands (BMI) unit for 172.5 million pounds (207 million euros).

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Three Gorges seals EDP stake with bid of 2.7 billion euros

The Portuguese government on Thursday awarded a 21.35-percent stake in power company EDP-Energias de Portugal to China’s Three Gorges for 2.7 billion euros.

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Leading Spanish oil firm Repsol buys 10-percent of the company from Sacyr

Leading Spanish oil firm Repsol YPF has agreed to buy half of the 20-percent stake held in the company by Sacyr Vallehermoso in order to prevent it being seized by the builder’s creditor banks.

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Regional indebtedness steadies for first time since crisis broke

The debt of Spain’s regions stabilized in the third quarter for the first time since the current crisis broke as belt-tightening measures started to take effect.

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Spanish house prices decline for 14th consecutive quarter

Spanish house prices fell an annual 7.4 percent in the period July-September, marking the 14th quarter of uninterrupted declines as the market remained weighed down by a glut of unsold new homes and high unemployment.

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Inditex boosts earnings by 10 percent in first nine months

Spanish fashion retailer Inditex on Wednesday reported a 10-percent rise in its net profit in the nine months to October to 1.302 billion euros as it continued to expand outside Spain.

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Spaniards slip down EU wealth table as crisis undoes progress

The economic crisis in Spain has unraveled much of the progress the country’s households had made in approaching the wealth levels of their richer European neighbors.

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PP to eschew bad bank that places burden on taxpayers

The economic spokesman of the Popular Party, Cristóbal Montoro, said Monday there are “intermediate” solutions to resolve the problem of impaired assets on Spanish banks’ books other than setting up a so-called bad bank to absorb them at taxpayers’ ex…

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More evidence emerges of renewed contraction in Spanish economy

Information made available on Monday added growing credence to forecasts that the Spanish economy is set to contract in the last quarter of the year due to the ongoing turmoil in the euro-zone sovereign debt market and slowing activity worldwide.

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Unemployment rises as doubts over Social Security surplus put deficit-reduction target into question

Further doubts were sown Friday about whether Spain would meet its deficit-reduction target for the year as the outgoing Socialist government questioned the Social Security system’s ability to deliver the surplus called for in the budget.

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