The European Union has announced a new trade agreement with the Philippines. Negotiators from the European Commission and the Philippine government have closed a "substantial agreement" to facilitate trade between the two territories, as explained this Tuesday by the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maros Sefcovic.

The tourism fair B-Travel, the supermarket chain Ametller Origen, and the health sector knowledge business association Catalonia.health have announced changes to their leadership this week, which has also been marked by new appointments in the transport and real estate sectors. Furthermore, Anthropic, one of the giants of artificial intelligence (AI), has landed in the Spanish market with the appointment of a new head in the country, while in the United States, billionaire Warren Buffett has announced that he is leaving the chairmanship of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway to his son Howard Buffett.

Bombarded energy infrastructures. Hydrocarbon exports at discounted prices. Public finances stressed by the war effort. High inflation. This has been, for four and a half years, Russia's economic outlook since the president, Vladimir Putin, ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has led to one of the longest conflicts in the history of a country that is no stranger to belligerence.

The cost of living for families continues to rise due to the increase in energy prices. In August, the prices of the set of consumer goods and services in Catalonia shot up by 4% annually, the highest figure since January 2023, but lower than the Spanish average, according to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The consumption of households and public administrations maintained the growth rate of the Catalan economy in the second quarter at the levels of the last three years, when it has continuously exceeded the European average. Thus, the Catalan gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) increased by 3% annually despite the difficulties added by the war in the Middle East, according to data confirmed this Monday by Idescat, the statistical institute of the Generalitat.

The former secretary of state and technology specialist Carme Artigas and the Empordà businessman Antoni Escudero are two of the prominent names in the Catalan business world who have been involved in appointments this week. Furthermore, the entry of new executives into the leadership of the tobacco company Philip Morris in Spain and the French automotive group Renault, which has a new vice president, also stands out.

Construction and services boosted the Catalan economy during the second quarter. Specifically, according to data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia (Idescat) published this Friday, the gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) grew by 3% in Catalonia compared to the same period a year ago. The figure places the Catalan economy above the increase experienced in the rest of the State. The numbers are remarkable in a complicated context marked by the effects derived from the war in Iran and, above all, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The top echelon of the Catalan economic and business world made an appearance this Thursday at noon at the funeral of Josep Vilarasau, president of La Caixa for 27 years died this Tuesday, which took place at the Sant Gervasi funeral home, in the upper part of Barcelona. Among the most illustrious attendees, however, was King Felipe VI's sister, Cristina de Borbón, who held various positions in La Caixa's Social Work for 26 years.

The Spanish economy maintained its high growth rate of recent years in the second quarter of 2026, above the European average. However, at the same time, the cost of living for families continues to rise, and this July will close at its highest levels since May 2024.

Ángel Ron joined the historic Banco Popular in 1984 and left through the back door in 2017, as president of a failed entity bought by Santander for one euro. Under his supervision, what for decades had the reputation of being the soundest bank in Spain ended up being just one more in a long list of financial entities overwhelmed by the years of the financial crisis.

The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce has revised its growth forecasts for the Catalan economy upwards, but with caution. With the outbreak of the armed conflict in the Middle East at the beginning of this year, most economic institutions cut their growth forecasts in view of the negative impact the conflict would have on the global economy, but in the end the negative effects have been less severe. Despite this, the head of the entity's studies department, Joan Ramon Rovira, insisted that the international context is "very volatile", which is why forecasts can change rapidly.

Sumar announced this Wednesday that it has agreed with the PSOE on the extension of rents until 2028 through a new housing decree that will also include tax incentives for owners, an indispensable measure to achieve the text to be finally approved with the favorable vote of Junts in Congress.

The Spanish national team footballers will each receive a bonus of approximately 750,000 euros for winning the World Cup, a figure that is three times the 245,000 euros received by the players of the Spanish women's team. world champion in 2023. Thus, the difference between the extraordinary bonus between male and female players for winning the World Cup exceeds half a million euros.

For many years, Japan was an economic anomaly. For decades, the government of the Asian country has been the most indebted in the world, but despite this, it continued to issue debt without problems and place it in the markets, paying a ridiculously low interest rate, sometimes even negative. Now, however, the situation has changed and the Japanese state sees the cost of financing its debt rising ever higher. If this is already a problem under normal conditions, when a country has accumulated debt for so long, if it suddenly becomes more expensive, the headaches for economic authorities multiply.

The Prat airport closed the first six months of this year with a new passenger record, according to data published this Tuesday by Aena, the Spanish airport operator. Specifically, the Barcelona aerodrome received more than 28.37 million travelers between January and June, an increase of 4.4% compared to the same period in 2025.

TheFènix Report, prepared by several renowned economists, has opened the debate on whether the Catalan economy is doing well or not. The study has caused controversy due to criticism of some productive sectors such as tourism and the meat industry, which it considers to be indirectly "subsidized", and for criticism of economic growth based on immigration rather than increased productivity of companies and workers.

The cost of living in Spain remains high this June. The prices of goods and services consumed by families have accelerated their growth, mainly due to the end of tax reductions on electricity and gas that the Spanish government had approved last March and which expired from June 1st.

The large presence of multinationals – particularly, North American pharmaceutical companies – in Ireland's economy inflates the country's weight compared to its European Union partners, to the point that the adaptation of these companies to the tariffs imposed by the United States government has led the entire European economy to register negative growth rates in the first quarter of this year.

The Spanish economy held its ground in the first quarter of this year, despite the negative impact caused by the outbreak of the war in Iran and the consequences on energy markets and international trade. Household spending allowed the gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) of the State to maintain the good figures of the last three years, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported this Thursday.

Alan Greenspan, the influential economist who led monetary policy in the United States during his five terms as chairman of the Federal Reserve (the Fed, the US central bank), died this Monday at the age of 100 from Parkinson's, as reported by NBC News. Greenspan was one of the most influential economists of the second half of the 20th century and one of the most prominent names within the neoliberal economic paradigm that began in the 1970s, which advocated for the independence of central banks, financial deregulation, free trade, tax cuts – especially for large fortunes and companies – and the privatization of public services.