SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has revised its forecasts upwards and expects that the Canary Islands economy will close this year with a growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 3.5%, with a dynamism higher than the national average.
The details of the Economic Situation Bulletin corresponding to the third quarter were presented this Thursday at a press conference by the president of the Chamber, Santiago Sesé, and the general director, Lola Pérez.
The Chamber notes a trend towards deceleration and expects that activity will continue to weaken during the last quarter despite the fact that it is expected to improve in quarterly terms due to coinciding with the high tourist season and the Christmas Campaign.
Sesé told journalists that “it would be a magnificent result” if the archipelago finally closed the year with a GDP growth of 3.5% and an unemployment rate of around 15%, figures that, despite their improvement, “They will not allow us to recover the level of GDP lost during the pandemic, an objective that will even be difficult to achieve throughout the year 2024, given the forecasts that the slowdown in activity will continue over the coming months.”
For this reason, Sesé continued to emphasize, “it will be necessary to work to recover our level of GDP prior to the pandemic as soon as possible, thereby allowing us to recover the per capita income seriously burdened after the health crisis, but we will also have to strive to reach the level of companies that we had. before”.
In September 2023, the number of companies registered with Social Security with workers under their control amounted to 60,795, while in September 2019 this figure was 61,495 companies, a smaller number of companies and, furthermore, smaller in size because According to the latest data from the Central Business Directory, more than 96% have fewer than 10 workers and almost 58% do not even have workers under their supervision, figures that worsen compared to 2019 records.
“A reality of the self-employed and micro-SMEs that must be reversed by promoting and favoring their creation, but also their dimension and for this it is necessary to legislate and act in favor of companies, something that we have suffered from in recent years. , where the opinion of businessmen has hardly been taken into account, in addition to placing multiple barriers for their development,” concluded Sesé.
PROBLEMS FINDING WORKERS
Furthermore, the president wanted to highlight that “the main problem that the business community is having in being able to carry out its activity is related to the labor market and the problems associated with it, among which it is possible to point out the difficulties in finding personnel and filling certain jobs. , the high and growing level of absenteeism from work, the increase in the social costs of companies, low levels of labor productivity, population aging, lack of housing or mobility problems”.
In his opinion, these problems “have been accentuated after the pandemic and it is necessary to resolve if we really want to continue growing, scaling our companies and improving our levels of employment, productivity and per capita income.”
For this reason, the Chamber believes that Spain “needs a great state pact on labor matters that has the consensus and commitment of all political parties and, of course, economic and social agents, to face ambitious reforms from different perspectives.” areas that allow us to face this important challenge that society faces”.
For the year 2024, the forecasts draw a “diffuse” scenario, Sesé pointed out, since it will be the year in which families suffer the loss of purchasing power to a greater extent, although it will be corrected by salary revisions and the “expected” moderation of inflation while companies, especially SMEs, will accentuate their delinquency levels, until now abnormally low – for the moment what is being seen is an increase in bankruptcies, with a year-on-year growth of 81.9% in the number of bankruptcy proceedings during the third quarter–.
In addition, he indicated that there will no longer be extraordinary aid to boost the recovery of the economy after the pandemic and the public sector will have to “tighten its belt” when fiscal rules and regulations will have to be reactivated as of January 1, 2024. spending control measures that were suspended due to the pandemic.
MANAGE 100% OF THE NEXT GENERATION
“A different scenario that forces us to act differently and that is why, among other measures, we would have to put in place all the necessary and sufficient means to manage 100% of the Next Generation Funds, as a public lever capable of stimulating economy,” he said.
Furthermore, he noted, “a control and reduction of public spending should be applied, not only to improve its productivity, but to have room to reduce taxes, thereby contributing to stimulating economic activity and consumption.”
From the business side, he commented that we must bet and invest in innovation and digitalization “to face the accelerated technological change, taking advantage of aid such as the Digital Kit to improve the competitiveness of our businesses, all accompanied by adequate training that also allows us to improve the productivity of workers and companies”.
Furthermore, he explained that with new governments at the local and national level “it is the opportune time to opt for the simplification of procedures and the streamlining of procedures that provide legal certainty to SMEs and investors” since there are “great opportunities” for the Canarian economy of a “qualitative leap” in its diversification and internationalization.
“It will also be the time to negotiate with the State a fair financing system for the Canary Islands, apart from the defense of our Economic and Fiscal Regime, which must be given a boost to defend the equality of Canarian citizens and companies with the of the rest of the national territory,” he concluded.
