Africa-Press – Angola. A few weeks before the holding of early legislative elections, called for next July 23, Spain is once again hosting a world-class event.
This is the Global Conference on the Impact of Vaccines that will bring together government officials and representatives of various organizations to discuss the issue of vaccines.
Jointly organized by Gavi (an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and the Spanish authorities, the event takes place at a time when the country on the Iberian peninsula is seeking to rebuild its economy and has the task of organizing the new electoral process.
The legislative elections were scheduled for December 2023, but were brought forward by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, following the defeat of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) in regional and municipal elections.
The Popular Party (PP) was the most voted political force in those elections, having won an absolute majority in Madrid, winning in Seville and Valencia. The PP won in three of the four largest Spanish cities, with the exception of Barcelona.
Overall, the PP was the most voted party in the municipal elections, with 31.5 percent of the votes, followed by the PSOE, with 28.2 percent.
Following the results, it was announced the dissolution of Parliament and the anticipation of national legislative elections, to elect the 15th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain.
In this suffrage, all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 of the 265 seats in the Senate will be contested.
Despite all the political burden surrounding the holding of early elections, and the country’s economy having been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Spanish authorities do not give up holding the
Conference on the production and distribution of vaccines
Taking place from the 13th to the 15th of this month, the High Level Summit takes place in a context of recovery of the Spanish economy, given that several economists and several international organizations say that the current data “are not alarming”, even after the impact of Covid-19. 19.
According to the “What Worries the World” survey, carried out by the Ipsos consultancy, the biggest concern today is unemployment, which is around 13 percent. The study indicates the inflation rate “of 6.1 percent”.
According to the same survey, the rise in the price of energy, raw materials and food has weighed heavily on the pockets of the country’s population and companies.
However, they highlight the fact that some areas show positive responses to the recovery and present a forecast of growth in 2023.
Among these are sectors such as tourism, export of goods, real estate and automobile. The latter is expected to see a 15 percent increase in sales, compared to the year 2022.
Main indicators of the Spanish economy
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) of Spain, GDP, in recent years, has shown moderate growth and increased by 5.5 percent in 2022.
He adds that growth will slow down in 2023, as the forecast is 1.2 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
INE data also show that, in 2022, Spain closed the year with a public debt of 113.1% of GDP, which makes the country the fourth most indebted in Europe.
However, the recent economic recovery allowed this figure to be around 2.1 percent lower than expected.
According to the “La Moncloa” website, it was the biggest public debt reduction in Spain’s recent history, which will help the country reach the targets in 2023.
The authorities explain the achievement with the continuous support to families and companies by the government, during the pandemic, and the adoption of measures to reduce inflation.
Inflation reached 6.1 percent, considered a high value in relation to the country’s historical standards.
In February 2023, as per available data, the interest rate was around 3.5 percent, a figure that has been steadily rising since January 2022.
According to the “EY European Bank Lending Economic Forecast” report, the increase in this indicator will make the volume of bank financing fall by 2 percent, on average, while consumer credits decrease by 1.1 percent and mortgages by 0.6, in 2023 .
Meanwhile, INE reiterates the 2022 growth, explained by the good results obtained in the period from April to June, when the Gross Domestic Product of the fourth largest economy in the euro zone grew by 2.2 percent.
This made it possible to compensate for the slowdown in the country’s activity at the end of the year (only 0.2 percent more in the third and fourth quarters), in a context of high consumer prices.
Inflation in Spain recorded an average of 8.4 percent in 2022 – the index reached 10.8% in July -, according to INE.
The rate, however, began a downward trend in recent months and reached 5.7 percent in December.
It will be in this economic, political and social context that Spain will host the Gavi Global Vaccine Impact Conference – Vaccine Alliance, eagerly awaited by Spanish society and beyond.
The aim of the meeting is to assess the impact achieved by Gavi (an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) from January 2021 to date, a period in which the initiative faced the double challenge of supporting routine immunization and meeting the needs of the Covid-19.
Data from Gavi – Aliança de Vacinas indicate that, since 2021, the initiative has provided more than 1.9 billion doses of Covid-19 to 146 countries, through COVAX, and has supported 32 immunization campaigns in response to outbreaks that have occurred in the year 2022.
The Vaccines Alliance has also revitalized its immunization program against HPV (prevents against cancer), and should support the launch of the first vaccine against malaria in the world, later this year.
ANGOP
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