Balearic businesses say European bailout will favour Spain

Both organisations claim that it will provide Spain's productivity with a dynamic which was lacking at a time when banks have been unwilling to lend because of the crisis. “This is just what the business community needs to help get the country out of recession,” said CAEB's President Josep Oliver and Joan Gual, the head of the Chamber of Commerce said yesterday.

Oliver explained that the so-called “rescue” will mean that many companies will now have access to financing which will enable them to keep afloat and start new projects. He also claimed that it will simultaneously boost consumer confidence and generate commercial and industrial activity. “This is vital to create employment,” Oliver said.

Gual said that the move to get a European Union bailout could not have come too soon. He argued that the austerity measures which had been imposed to cut the country's public deficit were at the same time placing a stranglehold on business activity and consumer confidence. “Uncertainty over Spain's solvency was merely creating jitters in the markets and damaging the perception of Spain held by foreign investors,” furthered Gual. “We ourselves as Spaniards were unable to see a way out of the crisis,” he claimed, adding “there has to be a new starting point for kick starting economic activity and promoting solid growth.” Oliver said that another important aspect of the bailout was that the risk premium associated with Spain has now relaxed so that the country can finance itself “under more favourable conditions”, allowing more money for public administration. The Balearic Socialist party however, has said that it should be the banks and financial system which should pay for the bailout, not ordinary citizens.