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.

Philippe Aghion (Paris, 1956) won last year the Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the impact of technology and innovation on economic development. Aghion, a professor at the prestigious Collège de France, Insead, and London School of Economics, currently focuses his work on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in growth and how Europe can improve its policies to reduce dependence on Chinese and American tech giants.

The Federal Reserve (the Fed, the central bank of the United States) has decided to keep interest rates unchanged, despite the rising cost of living in recent months, the agency reported in a statement released this Wednesday. The meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the internal body that makes monetary policy decisions) held between Tuesday and Wednesday was the first chaired by Kevin Warsh, who has aligned himself only partially with the requests of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who since his return to the White House had demanded a cut in the price of money to boost economic growth.

"Our society has not had a serious debate on this topic." This is how Joan B. Casas, dean emeritus of the College of Economists of Catalonia (CEC), expressed himself regarding immigration and its impact on Catalonia. Casas is co-author of a new report presented this Tuesday at the CEC headquarters titled A Useful Migration Policy for Economic and Social Transformation, prepared by the group of experts Economists for Well-being, which outlines the shortcomings of migration policies in Spain and identifies specific solutions so that the arrival of foreign population helps to create an economy that works "for the benefit of the natives, those who have come, and those who may come in the future", in the words of Josep Reyner, another of the co-authors.

The Catalan economy maintained growth figures above the European average in the first quarter of this year, mainly thanks to the consumption of foreign tourists and the strength of the services sector. The outbreak of the war in Iran, therefore, did not have a significant initial impact on the country's economic activity.

The cost of living in Catalonia moderated last May despite the upward pressures of fuel costs on family economies caused by the energy crisis derived from the war in Iran. Nevertheless, the measures approved by the Spanish government to cut taxes on electricity and natural gas curbed price increases.

Kings League, the company founded by former Barça footballer Gerard Piqué that organizes streaming football tournaments, has filed a collective dismissal procedure (ERO) to lay off 41 of its 83 employees, as reported by the law firm Col·lectiu Ronda in a statement on behalf of the staff.