Spain sinks. After rating cut by Standard & Poor's, which sanctioned the "relegation" of Madrid to Serie B, today other data is arriving that is certainly not comforting on the state of health of the Iberian economy.
First of all, to register yet another negative signal is la unemployment, which rose to 2012% in the first quarter of 24,4, compared to 22,9% in the previous quarter. Analysts' expectations were yes for a worsening, but contained below 24%. There are now 5,64 million jobless people, up by another 365.900 in the past three months.
Retail sales, on the other hand, dropped sharply: The figure fell by 3,9% in March after having already dropped by 3,6% in February, according to reports from Spain's National Institute of Statistics. Inflation is no better: according to a flash estimate, it stands at 2% in April, up from 1,9% in March.
