“It’s time to relaunch our economy,” PM Sanchez says as COVID cases surge
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Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was optimistic on Monday (August 31) that Spain could re-launch it’s economy after “having stopped the most fierce wave of the COVID-19 pandemic” creating jobs and bringing new opportunities to companies.
Spain is the European country worst his by the pandemic, but Sanchez told an audience made up of business and union leaders and members of civil society that it was time to re-start the economy.
“Now it is time for, apart from keep fighting against the virus, re-launch our economy, our companies and create jobs,” he said at an event titled “Spain can.”
With 43.747 new coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past week the prime minister once again vowed to beat the rising curve as Spain had done when it lifted the lockdown at the end of June.
Sanchez said the 140 billion euros ($166.84 billion) Spain will receive from the European Union recovery fund and the way it will be spent by the Spanish government should add two percentage points to economic growth in the long run.
Spain’s economy has been growing at a rate of more than 10% so far in the third quarter following a record drop in the preceding quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said earlier in the day.
She also said that the labour market had already begun to recover and hoped to reach an agreement to approve the budget as soon as possible.
With a cumulative total of 439,286 COVID-19 infections detected since the onset of the pandemic, Spain is preparing to reopen schools next week and teachers, students and parents have criticized the central government for waiting too long to announce nationwide rules to fight the coronavirus at schools.
