Spanish Economy Minister, Luis de Guindos, this week announced the introduction of a new law which abolishes the necessity for pre-authorisation when opening small businesses in Spain, and welcomed the launch of the ?Express? licence, already implemented by Madrid President, Esperanza Aguirre, in November.

With this new regulatory framework in place, new businesses may be opened without having to wait for prior municipal permission, and the minister said during his appearance before the Congressional Economy Committee that they will negotiate with the Federation of Municipalities with regards to the particular powers of the new licence. He placed special emphasis on the need for comprehensive reforms in the commercial distribution sector, which employs 3 million people.

El Mundo reported that the Economy Minister said ?the recession forecast for this year should be an incentive for reform?, and he announced that the Government are to approve on Friday further ICO funding for municipalities, in line with that of the autonomous communities, in order that they may pay their suppliers and finance basic services.

At the meeting, De Guindos publicly expressed his unconditional support for his colleague, Minister for Employment, Fátima Báñez, and the hard work she faces ahead, and criticised the previous government?s labour reforms saying they ?have failed? and that ?the deficit problems we are seeing are due to poor budgetary decisions of the past?.

The minister then announced that they are soon to embark on a ?road show?, travelling to key financial centres of Europe, Asia and America in order to explain the reforms being put in place by the Spanish Government.

The number of companies and individuals who filed for bankruptcy in 2011 grew by 13.3% compared with 2010, reaching a figure of 6,755.

ABC News reported that the number of insolvent companies rose 16.7% in 2011, reaching 5,821, while the number of individuals who were declared insolvent fell by 3.9%, and stood at 934.

In the fourth quarter of 2011 there were 1,692 proceedings registered, representing an increase of 8.8% over the same period in 2010, and a growth of 13.6% compared with the previous quarter of 2011.

Returning to the annual data, 6,472 of the proceedings were voluntary, 14.5% more than last year, and the other 283 involuntary, 9.3% less than in 2010.

By types of companies filing for bankruptcy, the number of individuals with business activity fell 11.1%, while proceedings for limited companies increased by 18.2% and corporations by 14.1%.

By region, Catalonia recorded the highest number of bankruptcy proceedings, with 1,507, followed by Valencia, with 995, Madrid, with 849, and Andalusia, with 784. These four autonomous regions accounted for 61.2% of the total.

In contrast, the communities with fewest debt proceedings were La Rioja, with 42, and Cantabria, with 60.

According to the National Statistic Institute?s report, 65.4% of companies declared bankrupt in 2011 were in the lower turnover bracket (less than two million euros), a level that covered all of the individuals with business activity, 68.3% of Limited Liability Companies and 44.1% of Corporations.

Spain?s public debt remained unchanged at 66.0% of gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to 706,340 million euros, according to eurozone data for the third quarter of 2011 released yesterday by Eurostat, the European Union statistics office.

The eurozone debt declined by three-tenths in the third quarter of 2011 to 87.4% of GDP, while in the whole of the EU the debt rose five-tenths to stand at 82.2% of GDP.

In annual terms, public debt increased in both the eurozone (83.2% to 87.4%) and the European Union (EU) in general (78.5% to 82.2%), according the first quarterly data on sovereign debt issued by Eurostat.

Specifically, the 17 countries in the eurozone accumulated a debt of 8.2 billion euros in the third quarter, of which 2.8% corresponded to currency and deposits, 79.3% to securities, 18% to loans and 0.8% to intergovernmental loans relating to the financial crisis.

Intergovernmental loans refer to the financial aid the eurozone and the EU have provided to other member countries, and Eurostat included this in its statistics in order to obtain a more complete picture of the evolution of public debt in the 17 eurozone countries and also in the EU-27.

El Economista reported that in the whole of the EU, the public debt amounted to 10.3 billion euros to September 2011, of which 3.8% is attributed to currencies and deposits, 79.7% to securities, 15.8% to loans and 0.6% to intergovernmental loans.

The situation in Spain

In Spain, government debt between the second and third quarter of 2011 remained unchanged at 66.0% of GDP, equivalent to 706,340 million euros.

However, compared to the third quarter of 2010, the Spanish debt increased by 7.3 percentage points.

Broken down, 54.7% of Spanish public debt corresponded to securities, 11.0% to loans, 0.7% for intergovernmental loans and 0.4% to currencies and deposits.

Most indebted countries

The highest percentages of public debt per GDP were recorded late in the third quarter of 2011 in Greece (159.1%), Italy (119.6%), Portugal (110.1%) and Ireland (104.9%), all ? with the exception of Italy ? rescued member countries. The lowest rates were observed in Estonia (6.1%), Bulgaria (15.0%) and Luxembourg (18.5% of GDP).

Compared to the second quarter of 2011, a total of 14 member countries recorded an increase of its debt, while 13 experienced a decline.

The largest increases were registered in Hungary (4.8%), Greece (4.4%) and Portugal (3.6%). In contrast, the steepest declines occurred in Italy and Malta (both with 1.6%) and Romania (1.0%).

Year-on-year, 20 member states experienced an increase in debt per GDP and 7 a fall.

The largest increases occurred in Greece (20.3%), Portugal (18.9%) and Ireland (16.5%), while reductions were recorded in Sweden (1.6%), Luxembourg (1.4%) and Bulgaria (0.9%).