SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 31 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Chamber of Santa Cruz de Tenerife expects the Canarian economy to grow by 6.5% this year, more than two points above the national average, although it sees signs of a slowdown due to the impact of inflation and the duration of the war in Ukraine, hence, revise your forecast downward by a little more than one point.
This is stated in the Bulletin of the Economic Situation of the Canary Islands corresponding to the first quarter made public this Tuesday by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Santiago Sesé; the territorial director of CaixaBank in the Canary Islands, Juan Ramón Fuertes, and the general director of the Chamber, Lola Pérez.
Sesé has commented that they are “optimistic” with the direction of the Canarian economy because air connectivity has increased and tourist reservations are going well, although he recognizes that high inflation is a “handicap” for the consumption of families and companies.
He has said that the economy of the islands marked a “turning point” in the second quarter of last year and began to grow thanks to the service sector and there is still room to recover the tourism lost since 2019 and with the advantage that the impact of the war is not “very significant” in the archipelago.
Given the high impact of inflation on vulnerable families, he has demanded measures to support public administrations and companies most affected by high energy costs, while at the same time calling for an income pact, with wage moderation, because it is “Impossible” that neither employees nor companies –which must give up part of their profit margin– can face it alone.
“We have to assume that we are going to be poorer,” he stressed, stressing that wages continue to rise, inflation will continue to “feed back” which could affect the competitiveness of companies and employment.
Sesé has also asked to speed up all public investment projects to underpin the recovery and bet on Dual FP to put an end to the “unsustainable” unemployment that exists in the archipelago and that implies that many companies do not find trained personnel.
According to Lola Pérez, this situation is due to the lack of training of the unemployed on the islands, with more than 116,000 people over 45 years of age and without studies, which makes up a “structural unemployment” of “difficult exit”.
He has also pointed out the strong growth of the Canary Islands at the start of the year with 12.6% of GDP, double that of the whole of the State, at the head of retail sales and with an increase of 41% in the sale of households.
GOOD EVOLUTION OF CONSUMPTION
Juan Ramón Fuertes has admitted a scenario of “high uncertainties” to make predictions due to the impact of inflation, but has affirmed that the evolution of consumption is “reasonably good”, with a delinquency rate that is also “below” forecasts, with slightly less than 4% and between 4% and 5% in companies that have applied for ICO credits.
He has pointed out that there is still room to recover the tourist spending lost since 2019 – 900 million remain – and has warned of the “slowness” in the processing of the ‘Next Generation’ fund projects that, however, will have a positive impact in the economy in the coming years.
Regarding the rise in interest rates, he highlighted the “prudence” of the European Central Bank and has framed this strategy in the recovery of “normality” after several years of negative rates.
However, he commented that the new mortgages on the islands, referenced to a fixed rate in almost 70% of cases, protect families, while ruling out the possibility of a recession on the horizon. “It is not in the near future,” she has indicated.
