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ECONOMY

Spain unveils €9 billion plan to tackle Ukraine fallout

The national aid plan will help the country weather the ongoing fallout of the conflict in Ukraine.

Published: 25 June 2022 16:35 CEST
Spain unveils €9 billion plan to tackle Ukraine fallout
Pedro Sánchez arrives at the press conference at Moncloa Palace to announce the new direct aid plan worth €9 billion. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP

Spain’s government on Saturday unveiled a €9 billion national aid plan to help the country weather the ongoing fallout of the conflict in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez unveiled the package in Madrid which comes on the heels of a €6 billion injection in March for a scheme worth €15 billion overall, or “more than one GDP percentage point”.

The government also extended other measures taken in March and set to end on June 30 by another six months till the end of the year. Those include reducing the price of a litre of petrol by 20 euro cents.

For the second time in less than a year, it also reduced value-added tax on electricity from 10 to 5 percent, a move already announced by Sánchez earlier this week.

It decided to hand out “direct aid of €200” to the self-employed and unemployed, and increase pensions and disability benefits by 15 percent.

The measures aim to help consumers deal with rising inflation, which hit 8.7 percent in May, its highest level in decades.

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ECONOMY

Madrid approves sale of Vodafone’s Spanish unit

Spain's government has approved the sale of British mobile phone giant Vodafone's Spanish division to investment fund Zegona for up to €5.0 billion.

Published: 15 May 2024 09:16 CEST
Madrid approves sale of Vodafone's Spanish unit

Digital Transformation Minister José Luis Escrivá said Madrid had given the green light because the London-based fund has committed to “a very substantial investment plan in the telecommunications sector over the medium term, in both fixed and mobile telephony”.

Vodafone announced in October that it had reached a deal to sell its Spanish business to Zegona, which was founded by two former Virgin Media executives, as part of its efforts to streamline its European operations under pressure from shareholders.

Under the terms of the deal the investment fund will pay Vodafone €4.1 billion ($4.4 billion) in cash, and up to 900 million shares in Zegona, which is listed in London.

The deal is expected to be completed at the end of May, Vodafone said in a statement.

The company said it now plants to start a €500-million share buyback programme on May 15th as part of its plans to return €2.0 billion to shareholders over 12 months.

In a further streamlining, Vodafone in June agreed to merge its British operations with Three UK, owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, to create Britain’s biggest operator with 27 million customers and accelerate rollout of faster 5G connectivity.

The group, which has more than 300 million mobile customers in Europe and Africa, is heavily focused on accelerating rollout of 5G in the UK.

At the end of 2022, Vodafone unveiled a huge deal with investment firms GIP and KKR to form a joint venture that would maintain its majority stake in European masts division Vantage Towers.

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