Davos will be held in Switzerland from January 20th - 24th with the theme ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’. The event organized by the World Economic Forum will bring together governments, international organizations and around 1,000 companies, as well as civil society leaders, young agents of change, social entrepreneurs and the media. Davos 2025 is taking place in a global context marked by geopolitical and economic uncertainties, trade tension, cultural polarization and the climate crisis. However, it is also an opportunity to reflect on the positive impact of technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotechnology, which promise to boost productivity and improve the quality of life worldwide.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç delivered the closing address at a business event held on Monday by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) and the Turkish Embassy in Spain to commemorate the centenary of the Republic of Türkiye. During his speech, Genç underscored the growth potential of Spain and Türkiye, two key partners that stand to benefit from their bilateral cooperation.

BBVA Mexico congratulates SHCP—the Mexican Treasury—on issuing a new sustainable bond known as 'BonoS.' With a fixed rate and a 12-year term, the bond is denominated in local currency. The issue attracted total demand of MXN 39,443 million, an oversubscription of 1.71 times. Both domestic and foreign investors placed orders.

BBVA Research has raised its forecast for Spain's GDP growth to 2.4 percent in 2023, up from its previous forecast of 1.6 percent in March. According to the latest ’Spain Economic Outlook’ paper published on Tuesday, this improvement is explained partly by revisions made by the Spanish statistics office, INE, but also by a surprisingly positive performance in exports, which offsets for slack internal demand. However, the BBVA research unit has lowered its growth forecast for 2024 from 2.6 percent to 2.1 percent, as uncertainty is expected to worsen across the world economy next year.

BBVA Research has revised upward its estimate of Spanish GDP growth for 2022 to 4.4 percent (from the 4.1 percent forecast three months ago), although its outlook has deteriorated for 2023, when growth is expected to reach just 1 percent (from the previous 1.8 percent). This is according to the latest 'Situación España' report, presented today by Jorge Sicilia, Director of BBVA Research and BBVA's Chief Economist; Rafael Doménech, Head of Economic Analysis; and Miguel Cardoso, Chief Economist for Spain.

BBVA's research unit revises its Spanish GDP growth forecasts for 2023 downward from 3.3% to 1.8% but keeps its estimate for 2022 unchanged at 4.1%. This reflects the scarcity of some raw materials and rising commodity prices generally, with the consequent increase in production costs already feeding through to inflation. In addition, the financial burden on businesses and families is expected to become heavier as the European Central Bank (ECB) moves forward with the withdrawal of quantitative easing. These trends are analyzed and discussed in the latest ‘Spain Economic Outlook’ report, presented by Jorge Sicilia, Director of BBVA Research and BBVA's Chief Economist, Rafael Doménech, Head of Economic Analysis, and Miguel Cardoso, Chief Economist for Spain.

BBVA Research keeps making progress in its project to measure the economy in real time and high definition, adding an index to measure investment and its components in its operating countries to its range of Big Data indicators.

The report 'Impact of COVID-19 on Consumption in Real Time and High Frequency´ in Spain, published by BBVA Research, reflects a 28 percent increase in card purchases  compared to June 2019 levels. Transactions grew by 19 percent y-o-y through face-to-face channels and 69 percent in non-face-to-face channels. The increase in mobility saw a boost in spending, especially in consumer sectors such as hospitality and leisure, and in those that involve travel, such as transport.

Carlos Torres Vila today opened the 38th APIE Seminar in Santander together with Nadia Calviño, Second Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. During his speech, the BBVA Chairman highlighted that, after a weak and uncertain start in 2021, the outlook for growth is now very positive. "We all expect a strong rebound in the economy in the second half of the year," he said. In his opinion, the economic recovery and the arrival of European funds put Spain in an excellent position to face the challenges of the productive model transformation. "We must take advantage of this new period of growth to transform our economy and that means preparing ourselves for a world that is undergoing radical change, preparing ourselves to face the challenges associated with that change, and to capitalize on the unparalleled opportunities that are opening up on the horizon," he stated.

According to 'Impact of COVID-19 on Consumption in Real Time and High Definition', a report by BBVA Research, May 2021 card spending was 19 percent higher than in May 2019 (+36 percent y-o-y, i.e. compared to May 2020). Spending in restaurants and leisure grew the most, driven by the lifting of state of alarm restrictions.

BBVA Research through its Global Economic Research area and Clarity AI, presents the "Cash vs. card consumption patterns: a Machine Learning approach" study on the use of cards and cash in the country.

Consensus Economics, one of the world´s most recognized analysis firms, has awarded Garanti BBVA the Forecast Accuracy Award for work by its economic analysis department.

BBVA Research published its October auto sales chartbook, noting vehicle sales have experienced a v-shaped recovery, increasing 36 percent in the third quarter of 2020 from the previous quarter.  However, sales are still 10 percent below levels observed in 3Q2019.

The BBVA Research team has published its Economic Outlook for fourth quarter 2020, anticipating that the pandemic and upcoming election could add noise to the short-term outlook even as medium-term prospects improve.

The U.S. labor market continued to improve in August, according to the latest economic analysis from the BBVA Research team.

The BBVA Research team has published its Economic Outlook for third quarter 2020, as the U.S. faces one of its most challenging environments in modern history.

The BBVA Research team published its economic analysis of the drop in gross domestic product for second quarter 2020, noting it is the steepest decline in over-the-quarter growth since 1937, in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Spain’s GDP could contract 11.5 percent in 2020 and grow seven percent in 2021, according to the latest ‘Spain Economic Outlook’ report, which was presented this Tuesday by Jorge Sicilia, Chief Economist at BBVA Group and Director of BBVA Research; Rafael Doménech, BBVA Research Head of Economic Analysis; and Miguel Cardoso, BBVA Research's Chief Economist for Spain. The contraction that is expected in 2020 represents a downgrade from the previous report’s forecast, which estimated an eight percent drop in GDP this year. The downward revision is mainly due to the fact that lockdown measures were in place longer than anticipated and these restrictions had a greater impact on demand, like in other European countries. Still, the reduction in number of COVID-19 infections and the easing of restrictions has led to a strong recovery. The ambitious policy announcements in Europe and a significant fiscal stimulus in Spain reinforces the expectation that this trend will continue. Even so, the risks continue to tilt to the downside in a climate of continued heightened uncertainty.

The BBVA Research team has published its Economic Outlook for second quarter 2020, offering a look at how the U.S. economy might recover in a post-COVID world.

The BBVA Research team has published its U.S. Macroeconomic Pulse for April 2020, offering insight into the economic outlook as well as macro fundamentals.

According to the publication released from BBVA Research, When will the U.S. economy recover from the infection?, the experience of countries that have transitioned beyond the worst phase of the pandemic suggest that the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. could peak in the spring or early summer.

The spread of coronavirus to several countries has led to a very charged reaction in the markets. The World Health Organization’s declaration of a global COVID-19 pandemic led to a number of immediate actions from the central banks and, concretely, the European Central Bank (ECB), as well as governments and other authorities in Europe. In a note, BBVA Research indicates that “the adoption of these measures is positive.” However, it feels that the monetary policy measures should be accompanied by a coordinated fiscal response from the European Union, which has already begun to materialize in Europe with similar stimulus plans between different countries.

Over the past two years, market volatility has caused investors to think twice before investing in Turkish assets. In an interview for Bloomberg in Turkey, Emre Hatem, head of Corporate Loans and Project Finance Restructuring at Garanti BBVA, discusses the country’s economic outlook for 2020 following 2019’s slump in transactions.

BBVA today released its 2019 annual compensation report for its board members, the first that includes sustainability as a non-financial indicator in the variable compensation for the executive chairman. In 2020, the CEO will also have an indicator that will measure the bank’s strategic commitment to climate change and sustainable development. The 2019 compensation policy (applicable for 2019, 2020 and 2021) was already announced last year. It was approved with 94.8 percent of the votes at the Annual General Meeting in March last year.

BBVA Research published its January auto sales chartbook, noting vehicle sales were 16.9 million in 2019, down 1.7% from 2018. While the sales results are still solid, 2019 sales were the lowest since 2014.

According to the publication released this week from BBVA Research, U.S. Macroeconomic Pulse for January 2020, the current baseline assumes growth of 1.8% in 2020, with a potential upside emerging.  The paper further notes that model-based recession projections suggest probability around 30% over the next 24-months.