“With the economy suffering its deepest recession since the civil war, and the worst in the euro zone, the central bank warned politicians to stop bickering and focus on solutions to the crisis or risk worsening the outlook,” said the Bank of Spain yesterday, and they are very true words.
I sometimes get the impression that Spanish politicians are not really aware of the possible economic hardships caused by the coronavirus. I have heard stories recounted to me by people who lived in Spain in the post Civil war period and they are enough to make your hair stand on edge. I would accuse the Spanish government of being “asleep at the wheel” especially during the month of August when the all important British and German tourist market stayed away.
It appeared that the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez just accepted this state of affairs and that was it. Sanchez and his government should have gone into over-drive calling for safe air corridors to be established in Spanish regions where the level of the coronavirus was low. But now we have to live with the dire economic circumstances.
As I said in this space yesterday the time has come for political unity not political infighting. The Spanish government needs to get the economy moving again. I spoke to one local businessman this week who told me that takings at his three local business had fallen by 80 percent and the government wasn't doing anything. Rather sums things up.