Finanzas

THE opening of Britain’s Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 marked several firsts in rail history. It was the world’s first inter-city line. It was the scene of the first widely reported passenger fatality. And it was also the first where all trains were hauled by the track owners. Previous lines had seen competition between operators, leading to the drivers of horse-drawn passengers trains and steam-pulled coal trucks having fisticuffs on the tracks. Two centuries later, the question of whether train and tracks should be operated by the same firm still simmers across Europe.

That is because new EU rules, enticingly called the “fourth railway package”, will force all state rail firms to open their tracks to rivals from next year. It means a “tectonic shift” for the industry, argues Leos Novotny of LEO Express, a rail startup based in Prague. And it comes at a time when commuters are particularly grumpy about trains. In France three months of labour strikes at SNCF, the state rail…Continue reading

HOW to sell cars when most people can’t afford to buy one? That is the conundrum for Volkswagen in Rwanda, where it is opening the country’s first car-assembly plant. A new Polo costs 33 times the average Rwandan income. Most cars on the road are second-hand imports. Rwanda absorbs perhaps 3,000 new cars a year, says Thomas Schäfer, VW’s chief in Africa. Past projects by carmakers in Africa, he admits, have ended in “monumental failure”.

Yet there was a hopeful mood when VW launched its operations in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on June 27th. The moment opens ”a new chapter in Rwanda’s journey,” said Paul Kagame, the president, after taking a demonstration model for a spin. In truth, little of the manufacturing will happen locally, at least to begin with. VW will build its vehicles elsewhere, partly dismantle them, then put them back together in Rwanda.

The real novelty is how the cars will be used. VW is linking production to a ride-hailing and car-sharing service,…Continue reading

Constructoras y promotoras copan la lista negra. Reyal Urbis se mantiene como la empesa que más debe

La Agencia Tributaria ha publicado la cuarta edición de la lista de grandes morosos de España. EL PAÍS te ofrece un buscador para navegar entre nombres y deudas millonarias

Hacienda publica la cuarta edición de la lista que incluye a los contribuyentes que adeudan más de un millón de euros al fisco

El exgobernador del Banco de España estará en la comisión delegada, la de riesgos y la de tecnología

THIS should have been one of the darkest weeks in the history of General Electric (GE). The firm founded by Thomas Edison has been a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stockmarket index comprised of leading American companies, for over a century. Alas, mismanagement and a failure to move with the times have turned the erstwhile icon of innovation into a disorganised, debt-laden mess. GE’s shares have plunged to below a quarter of their peak value in 2000. On June 26th GE was ejected from the Dow index and replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance, a big health-care firm.

Yet on that same day a ray of sunshine also fell on GE. John Flannery, an insider known for his number-crunching skills who took over as the troubled firm’s boss last August, announced details of a much-awaited restructuring plan. Over the next couple of years GE will spin off its healthcare division and unwind its newish stake in Baker Hughes, a petroleum-services firm. He had previously confirmed the sale of…Continue reading

Tras el frenazo de marzo por la Semana Santa, la concesión de crédito crece el 34%, en especial, por el crecimiento de las que tienen intereses fijos

Señala que la inflación se ha notado en una bajada del poder adquisitivo al final del segundo trimestre

Las reducciones y las bonificaciones son muchas y muy amplias, pero si tienes que pagar este tributo, te saldrá mucho más caro en unas regiones que en otras