Matilde Martinez |
Madrid (EFE).- The Secretary of State for the Economy, Gonzalo García Andrés, considers that the big banks cannot continue for a long time without remunerating deposits, something that he hopes will happen “quickly” in a context in which the rise in interest rates has already been passed on to mortgages.
“This situation has to be temporary, because the transfer of interest rates occurs very quickly on the asset side, in loans (…) and this has to reach the banks’ liabilities, particularly in deposits in the term”, he affirmed in an interview with EFE.
“We hope that this process will take place quickly from now on, because if it did not take place, we would have to see if there are competitive reasons for this not to be the case. The truth is that we hope it will be a matter of time ”, he adds.
In an environment in which financial conditions have tightened, García Andrés believes that the creation of the Financial Client Defense Authority is becoming more important, a project that has yet to conclude its parliamentary process and that the Government hopes will become a reality around the summer.
“It is very important that it enter into force and begin to function as soon as possible in an environment in which interest rates rise,” says García Andrés, who stresses that it will also be relevant for the financial sector to have a more agile mechanism to resolve discrepancies that now lead to “long and costly” judicial processes.
Sectoral fuel bonus “withdrawn”
Before the end of June, the measures adopted to cushion the high inflation caused by the war in Ukraine must be reviewed and a decision should be made on whether to extend any of them under the premise that they are increasingly “more targeted.”
Within this framework, the Secretary of State points out that the fuel bonus that since January has only been applied sectorally “is already in withdrawal”.
“It is not a measure in accordance with the Government’s decarbonization policy. What was done in December was to withdraw the measure and maintain it temporarily only for some sectors. We must continue in this line that it was a temporary measure and it is already in retreat, let’s say ”.
Regarding the continuation of the VAT reduction for some foods, he points out that it is subject to a deeper assessment that takes into account not only the “significant” moderation of inflation, but also the impact that the drought will have on the evolution of food prices. the food.
Balance of aid for mortgaged
The Government will also take stock in June of the operation of the code of good practices to help households with difficulties to face the rise in their mortgages, which at first it was calculated that it could benefit one million mortgagees, a figure that the Bank of Spain lowers and that the Secretary of State attributes to the improvement of employment and income.
“Since we started working on the code, the minimum wage has risen, pensions have risen, wages have risen, employment has risen very intensely and therefore, what we are seeing is that the income situation has improved and this means that more families can assume this increase without resorting to the code”, he affirms.
The observatory of business margins starts
Next month, quarterly data will begin to be released by the business margin observatory, which will offer the evolution by sectors of the percentage of margin that companies in each area take on their sales.
“The objective is to be able to disseminate quarterly sectoral data on the evolution of business margins that contribute to improving the analysis of the evolution of the economy in an area that is very important both for the evolution of inflation and for the evolution of the productivity, as well as for collective bargaining”, he explains.
Addendum to the recovery plan
The Executive expects to present in June the addendum to the recovery plan to request the 84,000 million euros in loans that correspond to Spain and another 7,700 million additional transfers from the Next Generation fund.
“We have been working on preparing the addendum for more than a year and it is also urgent because the European presidency begins on July 1 and we want to dedicate all our efforts to this task that requires our full attention.”
The addendum will finance, among other things, the PERTE Chip, a strategic project that will receive just over 1,000 million in direct transfers, while the remaining 11,000 million will come from loans.
