Dear members. Hope everyone is safe and sound.
Here the lockdown only allows us to go to work and do the daily shopping.
Only the sectors of public affluence have been hit by “force majeure” (restaurants, theatres, hotels, etc…) however, all the retail outlets are voluntarily closing except for food. Let’s hope we see the curve start to bend in the right direction with such measures or whether we need to implement something more drastic.
Our firm is working 100% from home and has seen its workload triple. The Spanish Government has approved measures for partial unemployment whilst assuming 70% of the labor costs incurred. We are currently having to deal with these Employee Reductions and guerrilla treasury forecasts to see how long Companies can survive. Very few Companies are optimistic… Nor me.
We will overcome the health problem (sooner or later) but the economic crisis that is pending will be more severe than the 2008 housing bubble. The only positive difference now, is that it seems that the ECB has realized there is a problem and National Banks are willing to lend money with a cleaner Balance Sheet than in 2008. Let’s see…
A special mention to the healthcare sector and to all the people that at some point in their lives decided to invest their efforts in taking care of all of us. Thank you.
Best regards.
Atentamente,
Chartered accountant – Barcelona – Spain.
