This August, the European anti-pandemic funds will run out, but the Spanish government has found a loophole to give "continuity" to this windfall beyond its end point: the creation of a Spanish sovereign wealth fund that will bear the name of Spain Grows Fund And it will be launched with an initial allocation of €10.5 billion, coming precisely from European funds. This was announced by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, on Thursday during the closing ceremony of the 16th Spain Investors Day (SID) Forum, held in Madrid, which brings together more than 300 foreign investors, investment funds, sovereign wealth funds from other countries, and dozens of companies.

Currently, the leading Spanish company by market capitalization, far ahead of the second, is Inditex. Its largest shareholder, Amancio Ortega, is the richest person in Spain and consistently appears on lists of the world's wealthiest individuals. He is now the ninth richest person in the world and the second richest in Europe, although at times he has even been the world's richest. Fifty years ago, Inditex didn't exist, and Amancio Ortega had no fortune whatsoever. This is the most dramatic transformation in the Spanish business world. No other fortune even comes close. The second richest, ten times smaller, belongs to his daughter. Following her are Rafael del Pino (Ferrovial) and Juan Roig (Mercadona).

The Spanish economy, and also the Catalan one – which grew more than average last year – continues to function. The Bank of Spain, which is usually conservative in its forecasts, has revised upwards the growth estimate for 2025, from 2.5% previously to 2.7%, after reaching 3.2% last year. All this in an environment of uncertainty in the international panorama. But last year, with a similar scenario, we already saw numerous upward revisions to growth.