MADRID, 15 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The first vice president of the Government and Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business Support, Nadia Calviño, announced this Friday that, in addition to the extraordinary tax on energy companies, the banking tax will also be reviewed "taking into account that the circumstances have changed" and we are no longer faced with the same interest rate scenario.
"It seems to me that it is time to review and see if we have to adjust some of the parameters in the new scenario in which we are, in which there is no longer such a rapid rise in interest rates and such a rapid rise in prices. We have to see if these two taxes need to be adjusted or not," Calviño said in statements to Antena 3 reported by Europa Press.
The first vice president has defended that the Government "did very well in imposing these taxes at that time, which have also met the collection planned by the Treasury and served as an example for other European countries.
"I think it was a good decision. Just as now it seems to me that it is time to review and see if it is necessary to adjust (...) We have always said it, that we were going to do the analysis of those two taxes to see if they should be maintained looking to the future and with what parameters, so that they continue to have the same positive impact from the point of view of collection and from the economic point of view," Calviño specified.
"IT IS GOOD NEWS THAT THE ECB HAS STOPPED RATE RAISES"
The first vice president considered it "good news that the European Central Bank (ECB) has stopped the rise in interest rates, and has denied that the "rapid and intense" increase that was experienced has slowed down the Spanish economy in any way. worrying.
"What we see is a significant slowdown in the European economy and a very rapid drop in inflation. Spain is already at 3.2%, this year's average will remain at 3.6% (... ) We are seeing a fairly moderate impact, except for those families and companies that have loans with variable interest rates. And that is why we have been working with the banks since 2021, to be able to provide relief measures to families that have mortgages. with interest rates," he explained.
The vice president has indicated that these relief measures will be maintained and has indicated that next week she will have another meeting with the banking entities to continue advancing on this and other measures related to care for the elderly.
"We are seeing with the banks expanding the code of good practices for mortgage debtors to extend to next year the possibility of changing mortgages from variable rate to fixed rate, free of charge and also the early repayment of loans. This has been a relief measure that is having a great reception and that is very important and as the rate increase will still be noticeable in mortgages next year, we are going to extend this possibility of changing for free to next year", has explained.
Calviño has also pointed out that he will also speak with entities about the extension of ATMs and other cash access systems to all towns in Spain. "We are already above 90%, more than 250 towns have received or already have an ATM or other instrument and I am going to discuss all this with the banks next week and with banking users," he said.
DEPOSITS ARE ALREADY BEING REMUNERED
Regarding the remuneration of deposits by financial entities, Calviño has indicated that "it is improving and little by little the banks are beginning to remunerate."
"We also notice it because the participation of retail clients in the purchase of Treasury bills is relatively decreasing, but we have closed the year with an extraordinary public debt campaign. A lower interest rate is being paid for Spanish debt than for German debt. in the short term. We have closed a debt campaign in which we have been able to issue 5,000 million euros less, in total 65,000 million euros in net terms," he highlighted.
