...+ On March 14, the Spanish government imposed a national quarantine to halt the spread of COVID-19. + The quarantine has interrupted normal economic activity, leading us to revise lower our real GDP projection for 2020 to negative 1.8% from our previous positive 1.5%; we expect the economy to recover by 3.1% in 2021. + In coordination with the private sector, the government is mobilizing 200 billion (20%/GDP) in funds--about 100 of which are government guarantees--to finance emergency credit lines to small and midsize enterprises (SMEs). These liquidity lines are intended for the next month, and will not increase net public sector borrowing requirements, unless the guarantees are called. + As part of that 200 billion in support, authorities have also introduced 17 billion or 1.4% of GDP in extraordinary fiscal measures, 14.2 billion of which are six-month tax deferrals, alongside 2.8 billion in transfers to the regions in anticipation of rising health care expenditure. Both measures will...
