The economy is going well

At first glance, the title of this column might jar a little, and the reason is very simple: in recent months we have lived through a wave of pessimism about the international economic situation, leading fear about the future of our community and our country. This situation is caused by ongoing international tensions, particularly Brexit and the Chinese – U.S. trade war.

All these catastrophic situations can, however, be an opportunity for the European Union and for Spain. However, only the negative aspects, which undoubtedly exist, are being spoken of. The advantages are ignored. There will be trade difficulties, but from a strategic and political point of view there is an opportunity for countries that remain in the common market to pull together to give the old continent enough heft to compete in the new geostrategic framework led by China, the United States, India and Russia.

The Spanish economy is a success story based on openness abroad, the modernization of its most productive sectors, structural changes to its economic institutions and persistent innovation in all areas. This approach has revolutionized an entire country that, once a laggard, is now the fourth largest economy in Europe and among the top ten globally. That is why at the internal level, a trade war can benefit a country like Spain whose strengths lie in agricultural products like wine and olive oil, in building materials, tourism, engineering, cosmetic products, and clean energy. The China – U.S. trade war creates opportunities for all these sectors.

At the regional level, we find a situation of stability that has resulted in five years of great growth in the economy and substantial changes to the labour market. Our community had a hundred thousand people reliant on Social Security a little over ten years ago. However, employment has increased by 25.4% in the last decade. Mallorcan hotel chains are the most internationalized companies in the country, the technology companies from the Parc offer state-of-the-art services worldwide. And after reaching labour agreements such as the hotelier and the trade agreement, social peace seems assured for many years.

It’s not my intention to look at the current situation through rose-coloured glasses, but as Dale Carnegie, a great thinker of the last century, said: “Most of the important things in the world have been achieved by people who went on when there seemed to be no hope.”

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