Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is certainly splashing the cash. Sanchez has given a two percent pay raise to civil servants, which will cost 3.21 billion euros. He has also increased the minimum wage by 5.5 percent.
The government’s move is part of a plan to boost the net minimum wage to 60 percent of the average monthly pay packet of 1,944 euros by the end of its four-year term. The rise in the minimum wage to 1,108 euros per month has been welcomed by trade unions but bitterly opposed by business leaders. Some have claimed that the increase in the minimum wage will actually destroy jobs rather than maintaining or making them.
The left-wing coalition, which Sanchez leads, has promised to try and overcome inequality in Spain and improve living standards while opposition parties have been quick to say that it will just increase Spanish debt.
Spain has a small army of civil servants, who in some cases, earn more than their counterparts in the private sector. The Spanish business community is also rather concerned about the state of the Spanish economy. There are fears that the government’s spending spree will just lead to higher taxes which could stall economic growth. Others have said that the pact between Sanchez’s socialists and the far left Podemos is a recipe for disaster and could cause many problems for the Spanish economy. One thing for sure...Pedro Sanchez can’t be accused of doing nothing!