To achieve this goal without hampering long-term economic growth, the composition of the fiscal adjustment is very relevant. Moreover, the combination of this consolidation efforts with other structural reforms on which I will focus later might be crucial in order to smooth and reduce the public finances adjustment needs. In addition, given the high degree of decentralisation of public spending in Spain, all government decision centres must contribute to this effort. To this end, it is crucial to provide efficient mechanisms to finance the different competences, permitting citizens to identify the bodies responsible for implementing the different public policies. On a related matter, let me mention that the adequate access to external financing by regional governments – be it by credit provided by financial institutions or through the capital markets – is of particular importance to avoid a pro-cyclical stance in the provision of the public services, and guarantee market pressure geared towards fiscal discipline. Currently, an exceptional mechanism is in place, namely the “Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica”, whereby the central government provides funds to most regions, in the form of bilateral loans, in exchange for a heightened control over their fiscal policies. However, in the current favourable macroeconomic and financial context, regions should regain market access. Challenges of the Spanish labour market The second session of the Conference is devoted to the challenges facing the Spanish labour market. During the last three years, the annual growth rate of employment has been 3.0%.
Several antecedents point to investment significantly outperforming our September estimate, including important upward revisions in the Corporation of Capital Goods’ (CBC) Project Survey, the behavior of capital goods imports, the evolution of more expansionary conditions of credit supply and demand (Bank Credit Survey) and qualitative information from our Business Perceptions Report (IPN). Thus, for 2019, our gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) growth forecast rises to 6% (4.5% in September), and for 2020 the near 4% figures are maintained. The case of mining investment is analyzed in detail in Box III.2 of the Report. According to the latest survey of the CBC—released in mid-October—for the period 2018-2021 investment expenditure of the mining projects it covers went from about 5.40 billion dollars to 10.60 billion. The greatest differences are concentrated in the years 2019 and 2020, when the surveyed investment is about 3.5 billion dollars higher than previously expected. This leap is the result of including a small number of projects that have advanced in their realization, but whose scope causes ripple effects in the baseline scenario. For 2018, where the incremental effect of the new survey is more limited, it is expected that Mining GFCF will increase 18% annually (just over 3 percentage points more than projected in September). For 2019, its annual expansion rate is revised from 7% in the September Report to 16% in our current estimate.