"In Spain, SMEs are the ones that finance large companies on clean terms." This is how the Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, described the complicated financing situation of small and medium-sized enterprises, aggravated by the fact that large corporations generally take more than two months to pay their suppliers. He made these remarks on Tuesday during his address to the board of directors of Pimec, where he also held a dialogue with the president of the Catalan employers' association, Antoni Cañete.

The Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, said this Wednesday that he is confident that the process for recruiting positions for the bank's new innovation center in Barcelona will be resolved "in the coming months." According to the agency, there are 25 positions for technology professionals, for which 900 people have already applied. However, the bank does not rule out the possibility of expanding the number of positions. The Bank of Spain has already signed an agreement with the Barcelona SuperComputing Center. to collaborate in promoting the implementation of artificial intelligence in the financial sector.

The digital euro is relatively unknown, but the European Central Bank (ECB) has been working for some time to make it the next revolution in European currency. The body chaired by Christine Lagarde has been dropping hints about what it will be and how it will be implemented, but beyond the theoretical approach, the technical part is still in its infancy. However, little by little, there is more and more talk about the digital euro, also beyond the ECB. But what is the digital euro and how will it affect society?

A legend accompanies José Luis Escrivá, which points to him as an involuntary humorist of reference. In addition to his air of mischievous bonhomie, there are some facts that will be difficult to erase from the collective imagination: when he got confused at an event when he was Minister of Social Security and by mistake put water in the space intended precisely for placing the bottle. Those laughs – that of Escrivá himself and that of those who saw him – have turned him into a curiously charismatic character and from whom endless gags are expected.

The centre for the reception of refugees that the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion set up in one of the pavilions at Fira de Barcelona opened this Friday at half throttle. Users are required to get an appointment over the telephone in advance, but the line to request an appointment won't be up until tomorrow. in addition, the staff to process temporary protection documents for Ukrainians fleeing the war was not yet ready. "We have many questions and few answers," laments Alexandra, who does not want to give her last name, and who has come all the way to Montjuic to find out "what is the next step" she has to take. She arrived in Barcelona with her sister and three underage nephews and is staying with a daughter who lives in Barcelona. She explains that for days she has also been trying to contact the police, but that, like this Friday, she has had no luck either because there are no free appointments "until who knows when".

The Social Security Minister, José Luis Escrivá, has taken 24 hours to admit that he was wrong in the statements he made on Thursday about the pensions of the baby boomer generation. While yesterday he assured that this generation born between the 50s and mid-70s would have to choose between collecting a lower pension or working more years, this Friday he has hastened to correct his own words. "Yesterday I did not have my best day", he admitted during the press conference to assess the unemployment data for June. "[My words] were misunderstood, I was thinking out loud", he added.

The coalition government between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos has scored another success on Monday by closing a first agreement on pension reform with employers and unions. In this case its architect has been the Minister for Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, who after months of negotiations has unblocked one of the issues that raises more dilemmas and more doubts about the Spanish economy. It is true that many thorny aspects, such as the new system for calculating pensions, have been left for a second phase of the negotiations, but from the outset, basic aspects have been agreed that indicate where the future pension system has to go in order to be fairer and more sustainable.

The Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, announced yesterday that the Spanish government is studying incentives for workers who decide to continue working beyond retirement age. Among the proposals are an annual payment of up to €12,000 or increasing pension payments by 4% for workers who decide to remain active despite having the right, due to age and years worked, to retire.

The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the new maternity supplement when calculating pensions with the aim of putting an end to the gender gap. Until now only mothers who had had at least two children were entitled to a percentage increase in their pension. The new supplement, which will be a fixed monthly amount, will be received from the first child onwards. The Minister of Migration and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, explained that the supplement will be almost 400 euros per year per child. The ministry estimates that it will benefit 30,000 women and will increase the average pension by 6%.