Athletic Bilbao’s Ferando Llorente is the object of Harry REdknapp’s affections and reports are circulating that a £26m bid has been lodged with the Basque club. Llorente has risen to prominence over the past 12 months, shining both for club and for country. With 12 goals to his name in La Liga this season, the 25-year-old  sits behind only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and David Villa in the goalscoring charts and his physical staure and aerial prowess makes him ideally suited to the Premier League.

The size of Spurs bid highlights the growing concern at White Hart Lane over their striking options. With Robbie Keane having played his last game for the club and Roman Pavlyuchenko disillusioned on the substitutes bench, the Londoners are left with just two orthodox front men in Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe.

With 36 hours of the transfer window left, Spurs may yet have to increase their massive bid if they want to land Llorente.

via Sportingo.

Spain´s saving banks have been through a restructuring process to cut their number from 45 to 17 and allow them to open their books to private investment, but investors are concerned they still need to fill a big capital hole.

Unnim, a newly formed savings bank from the merger of Caixa Manlleu, Sabadell and Terrassa, may ask for 150-200 million euros ($201.7 million-$269 million) from the bank restructuring fund (FROB), a source said, its second application for aid.

“What (the savings banks) need to do now is work on their supposed solvency issues, carry out a process of transparency and generate confidence in the markets,” Economy Secretary Jose Manuel Campa said on Friday.

With wary debt markets blocking access to most of Spain´s banks, the savings banks will have to work hard to prove their solvency and attract private investment, Campa said.

“They must recapitalise and have an adequate capital structure to participate in the markets. They need to explain their business plan to generate credibility.”

The FROB has so far granted around 10 billion euros to the restructuring process of the savings banks, though it can be expanded to 99 billion euros if necessary.

Read the full story via Reuters.

The sharp rise was mainly due to increases in the price of fuel and tobacco, as the retail price index is currently at his highest point since October 2008.

The cost of transport, which includes fuel and lubricant costs, increased by 9.2 percent in 2010.

Alcoholic drinks and tobacco also witnessed a 15.2 percent price increase over the past year, the highest since 1994.

There have been regional variations in the rate of price increases, with the more rural communities, like Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-Leon, Asturias and Andalusia, all above the 3 percent average.

Meanwhile, prices rose by an average of just 2 percent in the Canary Islands, while the Basque Country saw an increase of 2.8 percent.

The December inflation statistics are especially significant in Spain as they serve as the basis for salary revisions in companies that have inflation-linked pay rises in collective agreements with their employees.

via Inflation rises to 3% in December in Spain.

In Argentina, the stock fell more than 1%, the country risk goes up 735 points and Argentine bonds shrink by almost 3%.

The Bovespa in Brazil also operates falls, but more moderate. The Brazilian stock market lost 0.2 percent and seems to curb the sharp fall over 3% recorded yesterday.

The crisis plunges the euro against the dollar and prompted President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to reaffirm the strength of the Spanish economy.

But analysts said investors remain unconvinced.

“I believe that contagion risks are increasing,” IHS Global Insight economist Diego Iscaro told AFP.

“Given how difficult and time consuming it was to agree this (Greek) package, I can’t really see Germany et al coming up with timely financial support for other Eurozone economy if needed.”

Royal Bank of Scotland strategist Gregg Gibbs agreed that “the contagion in Europe is a worry.

“After getting a bigger bail-out and agreement on austerity measures with the Greek government, the market is still heading for the exit on eurozone periphery debt. The question has to be asked whether the European authorities can stop this from snowballing.”

At French bank BNP Paribas, analysts commented: “Both Portugal and Spain are suffering from the perception that if they get into trouble … Germany will not be pulled round to authorising a bailout.”

In a reference to the dominos which fell as the global financial crisis spread, they said: “People worry that, if Greece is Bear Stearns, Portugal is Lehman and Spain AIG.

“Somehow the EU authorities need to reduce the uncertainty about Spain and Portugal.”

Now, Spain has become the main target of speculators, after Greece, saved in extremis from bankruptcy by its partners in the euro area through an aid program of $ 146,000 million.

via Global financial markets fall again due to the Spanish situation | Momento 24.

Job creation will not start until the “final quarters” of 2011, the Banco de Espana said Tuesday in a report on the economic outlook for the country.

The central bank´s job creation forecast, however, differs from the one issued by the government, which expects news jobs to be created between late 2010 and early 2011.

Spain´s unemployment rate currently stands at 18.8 percent, making it the second-ranked country in the EU behind Latvia.

The Banco de Espana said it expected the economy to contract by 0.4 percent this year, or one-tenth more than the government´s forecast.

The bank is forecasting economic growth of 0.8 percent for 2011, a figure that is one percentage point below the government´s macroeconomic forecast.

The contraction in economic activity this year and its “modest rise” in 2011 will lead, in the absence of structural reforms, to a drop in employment in both years, the report said.

The central bank, however, expects job destruction to be “very small” in 2011 on an average annual basis, with the labour market having a “temporary profile of gradual improvement.”

This positive trend will be more clear in the private sector since the government announced plans to reduce public sector employment as part of its budget consolidation programme, it said.

Wages, meanwhile, are expected to experience “a very notable slowdown” in 2010 of up to 1.5 percent and a drop of some 1.4 percent next year, the central bank said.

via Joblessness in Spain will rise to 19.4 percent in 2010.

The belt-tightening will be tough and varied, trying not to touch social spending. The nine autonomous regions who have submitted their plan at the moment have committed with central government to cut 1.975 million euros in additional spending on what had been budgeted for 2010, which represented a cut of about 5.047 million spending of 2009. But not all have been so strict. Castilla-La Mancha, with a planned cut of 415 million, is one of the most affected in absolute terms, according to data.

The spending cuts will come from Castilian-Manchego the running costs of the administration, which will fall by 10%, which will save 100 million in personnel costs, with the replacement of only 10% of vacancies. But it will also need a “reorganization of the public sector in general, the reduction of public enterprises and the establishment of limits on subsidies and grants, which had taken the momentum of increasing year after year,” according to the regional government. Likewise, there will be delays of “two or three years in investments in health facilities”.

Cuts in Extremadura

Extremadura will also undertake a significant cut, close to 200 million. Furthermore, it will eliminate the provision for productive investment, which allows autonomy 0.25 point increase in the maximum allowable deficit, which is 2.5% of GDP. No counseling should exceed 95% of planned budget execution, democratizing and trimming.

Far from these figures is Murcia, which will save around 100 million euro and Cantabria, which has pledged to reduce between 20 and 40 million expenditure. Between the regions that do not have to adjust your budget includes Navarre and Aragon. Still negotiating with the Government are Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands.

The government will also approve tax breaks for renovations to housing in an attempt to get unemployed builders back to work, the newspaper said.

via Spain Cabinet to pass anti-crisis measures on March 30: El Pais – The China Post.

The First Vice-President of the Government, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, emphasised that the new initiatives are focused on areas such as direct care to citizens at risk of social exclusion and are committed to providing more resources to local organisations and organisations aimed at local action.

Furthermore, they enhance the development of support bodies such as special employment centres, associations, labour market insertion companies and cooperatives.

Ms Fernández de la Vega pointed out that “within the Local Employment and Sustainability State Fund, Local Councils will be implementing over 2,000 social inclusion programs for a value of almost 300 million euros that will benefit more than one million people”.

During her press conference with the Vice-President, the Minister for Health and Social Policy, Trinidad Jiménez, stressed that, despite the economic crisis, “the Government is committed to social policies and to maintaining social protection”.
According to the Minister, the new measures approved on Friday are aimed at strengthening the direct care provided by Local Councils and NGOs to those people who find themselves at risk of social exclusion.

Trinidad Jiménez explained that the Government will provide Local Councils with “specific funding for social inclusion programs”. More precisely, over 700 million euros will be given to Local Councils from the Local Employment and Sustainability State Fund, of which 300 million euros will be aimed at the development of 2,150 programs that could benefit over one million people.

Furthermore, the Minister stated that the resources given to NGOs will also be increased thanks to the creation of “an extraordinary fund of 30 million euros” for the development of active inclusion programs that will combine stimulation for employment with adequate income coverage and access to quality services.

The Minister for Health and Social Policy also indicated that the Government will increase the percentage and amount of the funding aimed at social exclusion programs, which currently stands at 0.7% of IRPF [Spanish Personal Income Tax].

She also said that this 0.7% will amount to some 205 million euros this year, which “is the largest sum ever distributed in the history of this program” and 14 million euros more than was given to NGOs in 2009.

Consequently, these organisations will be able to provide their services to 485,000 more people and the total number of services may well exceed 5,700,000.

The third sector and the Gypsy Community

The Minister reminded her audience that the President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced last week that the Government intends to present a draft bill for the Social Economy Act to the Council of Ministers, a law that will regulate Third Sector organisations and foster their development.

This third sector consists of a wide range of business entities and other organisations, such as special employment centres, labour market insertion companies, cooperatives and foundations.

According to Ms Jiménez, the Government understands that “they are an extraordinary source of enrichment and job creation because they represent 10% of domestic employment and 5% of GDP”.

Furthermore, in order to strengthen the work of these organisations, the Minister announced that social criteria are going to be introduced into public employment contracts to give preference during tender procedures to those companies in which the disabled account for more than 2% of staff.

There will also be incentives for the hiring of people at risk of social exclusion by proposing an agreement, within the scope of social dialogue, on an increase to tax credit schemes for those employment contracts arranged through the Labour Market Insertion Companies Act.

Trinidad Jiménez also announced that a specific plan for the development of the Gypsy Community over the 2010-2012 period will be approved within two months.

Social Security Reserve Fund

The Council of Ministers approved a provision of 1,740 million euros to the Social Security Reserve Fund to be taken from the 2008 surpluses. As a result of this additional provision, the so-called “pensions nest egg” will now exceed 62,000 million euros and equate to 5.65% of GDP.

María Teresa Fernández de la Vega underlined that “this is yet another example of the good health currently enjoyed by our pension system”.

Furthermore, the Government agreed on the distribution of three million euros to the Autonomous Regions for managing those employment and training policies that improve the employability of people.

The Government also approved a Royal Decree by means of which measures are established to facilitate reinsertion into the labour market and provide special financial aid to the employees of SINTEL who were affected at the time by redundancy plans. More precisely, specific measures have been established to facilitate the employment and relocation of these workers, as well as special financial aid for the unemployed over the age of 52.

Following a proposal from the Minister for Work, Celestino Corbacho, the Government has examined the creation of a new micro-company consultancy service on the topic of occupational health and safety that will soon begin to operate from the National Occupational Health and Hygiene Institute in collaboration with the Autonomous Regions.

The Vice-President of the Government explained that this service, called ‘Prevención10.es’, “will be a free service and made available to the more than one million companies employing up to 10 people that currently exist in Spain”.

He added that its objective is “to achieve a constant and significant reduction to the occupational accident index and to improve occupational health and hygiene conditions”.

Protection of the marine environment

The Council of Ministers approved submission to the Cortes Generales [Spanish Parliament] of the bill for a Marine Environment Protection Act, which will cover issues related to the protection of marine environments not already governed by Spanish legislation.

The Vice-President of the Government considers that this Bill includes environmental criteria on the use of marine environments, establishes strategies and guarantees the good condition of our seas, their protection and the recovery of their ecosystems, as well as contributing to the prevention and elimination of pollution.

Floods in Andalusia

The Council of Ministers approved a resolution whereby the Minister for the Interior will assess the damage caused by the floods in Andalusia with the utmost urgency and process the financial aid provided for by the Royal Decree of 18 March 2005.

Furthermore, the Government will increase this financial aid through the inclusion of Andalusia into the Emergency Measures Act to alleviate the damage caused by the recent natural catastrophes.

Ms Fernández de la Vega also conveyed the solidarity, support and concern of the Government to those municipal areas of Andalusia affected by the floods.

The Vice-President also wanted to press for calm ahead of the storm that was to affect the Canary Islands over the subsequent hours and reach the Spanish mainland over the following weekend.

“The pertinent warnings have already been issued in every Autonomous Region. The leaders of the various authorities are working together and all the relevant preventive measures are in place”, she said.

Other agreements

• Approval of the legislation on security in the Armed Forces
• Approval of the Regulations for the Prevention of Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport
• Analysis of a report on the new legislation to improve air safety