Banco Sabadell sends a message of reassurance from Alicante, forecasting a 2.5% growth in the Spanish economy

Banco Sabadell's history, the takeover bid, and the macroeconomic landscape were the three main themes of the conference delivered by the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, during his visit to Alicante to participate in one of the Business Club meetings of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, held at the Alicante business centre, Panoramis, this Tuesday.

The executive analysed the complex economic situation facing the world, Europe, and Spain, delivering a message of reassurance, particularly regarding a tariff war that, while affecting Spain, will have far less severe consequences than other Eurozone countries. This is because Spain's productive fabric is largely composed of the service sector, a non-tradable good that will not be as affected by these measures from the Trump administration.

In this regard, the president of the Catalan bank called for calm among dozens of Alicante entrepreneurs and sent a message of reassurance amid a turbulent scenario. Oliu detailed that the current situation of trade and geopolitical crises "impacts less negatively than other crises such as 2008 or Covid."

The Catalan banker detailed that the growth prospects for the Spanish economy are "around 2.5% robust growth," compared to 0.8% for the Eurozone. For Oliu, the keys lie in "robust domestic demand, the arrival of immigration, the drop in interest rates, and the trickle of Next Generation EU funds."

In addition, the continuous arrival of tourists, which continues "increasing and keeps our economy buoyant," is a factor. However, he does not forget the country's main problems, such as "low productivity levels, absenteeism, or low wages." The president of Banco Sabadell insists that "if we do not manage to increase productivity and wages, a problem of social stability arises."

"In this world of great uncertainty, we are on the protected side, far from military conflicts, less affected by trade conflicts, and we have an economy dependent on services, which are not at risk of shock," concluded the Sabadell executive.

Oliu spoke about the international landscape, with a particular focus on "a stage of commercial protectionism initiated by Trump, which has introduced degrees of commercial protectionism we had not experienced before." For the president of the banking entity, "my impression is that it has been a position to instil fear in the other counterparts of the United States to negotiate something beneficial."

The Catalan banker indicates that the Trump administration's strategy "also seeks the depreciation of the dollar, even putting the country's financial instability at risk." Oliu highlighted that Trump "seeks the depreciation of the dollar to try to rebuild the local industry, which is very dismantled and distributed internationally."