The Minister of Industry and Tourism of the Spanish government, Jordi Hereu, boasted about the capacity of Spanish industry. In his speech at the 41st Meeting of the Cercle d'Economia, Hereu celebrated that the state's productive sector "holds its ground", and survives the multiple geopolitical threats that surround it.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again warned of the financial dangers of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, which is growing very rapidly, especially in the United States. In a report, the European monetary institution warns that large AI multinationals may be overvalued and could cause problems in the eurozone's financial sector.

The cost of living for families has maintained this May the slowdown recorded the previous month, despite the continuation of the war in Iran and instability in energy markets, according to provisional data advanced this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The Russian economy has faced pessimistic forecasts since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when a large part of Western countries gradually imposed all kinds of industrial and financial sanctions on it. Despite this, Moscow's narrative had been that the country's economy was holding up well to the economic shock, partly thanks to public investment and industrial activity resulting from the war, which offset the impact of the sanctions.

Goods exports rose last March aftera February marked by the poor performance of the external sectorIn the first three months of 2026, Catalan exports fell by 1.5% compared to the first quarter of last year, reaching 24,682 million euros, but imports fell even more, by 4.7%, to 27,751 million. Thus, the trade deficit also continued to close in the first quarter at almost one billion, going from 4,062 million recorded between January and March 2025 to 3,069 million euros in the same period this year.

The concern in the United States financial industry about the viability of some private credit investment funds has led Wall Street's major banks to bet on financial instruments that either cover losses in case of fund failure or allow for downside speculation. Major North American financial institutions have created a public index in recent weeks that allows investors to know the price of these new speculative instruments.

A harsh report on the state of the Catalan economy, prepared by several economists, criticizes the country's productive structure because several business sectors end up being, de facto, "highly subsidized" by the rest of the economic fabric. This current model has represented an "impoverishment" of Catalan society and a continuous loss of productivity of the business fabric compared to Europe in the last 25 years. "The country is bleeding out," summarized the report's coordinator, executive and engineer Xavier Roig.

The housing crisis and the rising cost of both rentals and purchases have cast doubt on a significant part of the taxation of real estate companies due to the low level of taxes they pay compared to other sectors of the economy. One of the targets of criticism for this low taxation are SOCIMIs, publicly traded real estate investment companies.

The Catalan economy will slow its growth this year, accompanied by an increase in prices, if the armed conflict in the Middle East is maintained or worsens, according to the economic forecasts of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.

The European Commission has a new diagnosis on taxation that points to the highest incomes and large fortunes. According to a study published by the Community executive, over the last thirty years there has been a concentration of wealth in the most affluent segments of the population in the European Union, making it necessary to rethink the taxes levied on wealth, inheritance, and capital income in the EU to reverse this trend.

The fiscal measures to reduce the cost of electricity and fuel approved a month ago by the Spanish government have had a positive effect on the prices of goods and services consumed by families, which has allowed to moderate the inflation that had soared in March as a consequence of the energy crisis derived from the war in Iran.

If the predictions had been correct, since 2022 there would not be a single millionaire left in Norway. In 2021, the Labour Party (centre-left) of the current prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store, won the parliamentary elections and entered into a coalition government with the Centre Party. The new executive approved a reform of the formuesskatt, the wealth tax, which increased what the country's richest taxpayers pay.

The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce has warned this Monday that a significant portion of the water infrastructure investments planned in response to the drought episode that affected Catalonia between 2021 and 2024 are delayed or, in some cases, stalled, including the Tordera and Foix desalination plants. Likewise, the business organization has warned that European regulations require administrations to invest more in water purification and regeneration, which may necessitate future increases in investments in this area.

Three of the major European economies –France, Italy, and the United Kingdom– are the three new headaches in European debt markets. The three countries are in the investors' crosshairs due to the high cost their governments pay to issue public debt, even though on paper and historically they are three states with solid economies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls on governments to implement "temporary" policies to protect their economies from the energy shock caused by the war in Iran, with special emphasis on protecting the most "vulnerable" segments of the population, according to the April report of Fiscal Monitor, which the economic body publishes semi-annually. In the study, the IMF warns that some countries —such as many members of the European Union, China, or the United States, among others— have limited room to maneuver to carry out public policies to support the economy due to the high levels of public debt they have accumulated in recent years and low growth levels.

The rise in fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East sent the cost of living soaring in Catalonia and Spain in March, the first month with the war's effects, according to consumer price index (CPI, the indicator that measures the cost of living for families) data published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The cost of producing food is expected to rise in the coming months due to the war in the Middle East. The reason is the dependence of world agriculture on fertilizers, some of the main producers of which are the Persian Gulf countries. The export of these chemical products has been as affected as oil by the conflict, which has led to price increases that will likely be passed on to the final price of food.

The international congress of seafood companies and products, Seafood Global, will open a new edition on April 21 with similar prospects to last year's. The organizers of the meeting do not foresee that the war in the Middle East will affect attendance at the meeting and estimate that the event will have an impact on the city's economy of around 161 million euros.

The General Council of Economists, the body that groups the colleges of economists of the State, proposes that the Spanish government adjust its income tax bracket (IRPF) to the salary increases of recent years. According to the entity's calculations, a Catalan worker with a gross annual salary of 25,000 euros would save about 252 euros annually, while for higher salaries, such as 400,000 euros, the savings would exceed 2,100 euros annually.

The Generalitat has published the 2027 labor calendar, marked by Christmas and May 1st falling on a Saturday, as the Catalan executive reported this Wednesday in a statement. In total there will be 12 holidays in addition to Sundays.