On December 20, 2019, the National Statistics Institute (INE) published historical data in Spain. Madrid surpassed Catalonia as the main regional economy. A sorpasso of capital proportions that had only been produced in 2012 and 2013. The region started 2020 in the best possible way, contributing 19% to Spanish GDP: 230,794 million euros. The sailboat in the capital was going from strength to strength. Madrid was again the engine of Spain.
Four months later, Madrid starts the boat again in the midst of a storm of incalculable proportions: 400,000 unemployed, 50,000 self-employed without knowing when the routine of three months ago will return and a social crisis that, according to data from the City Council of the capital, foresees the biggest food crisis since post-war. At least 101,942 people receive food these days in the city of Madrid, according to a list drawn up by the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations in the capital.
Madrid has been and is the epicenter of the disease in Spain at the health, political and social level. Here the spread of the virus throughout the country began, here protests against the Government began and here the queues of hunger began. The balance has been heartbreaking. Unemployment and the queues of hunger have multiplied by the pandemic. The abstract bug has left a region depleted with more than 67,000 confirmed cases and 8,907 deaths in hospitals so far. And before opening the door to phase 1, the College of Physicians warns: “We are still concerned that the Madrid health system cannot take on a new outbreak.”
It has been a chaotic two months both politically and economically. The respite began last Monday with phase 0.5, a stage that was not even foreseen in the de-escalation manual. The decision was preceded by cries for help from Puerta del Sol to La Moncloa: “You have to open the economy anyway.” The objective was to cover the gigantic economic suture as soon as possible. This Monday the consequences will begin to be seen.
“With phase 1 we will only open between 10% and 15% of businesses. Not all have terraces, ”says Tomás Gutiérrez, president of the Madrid association of hotel businessmen. One in five stores in Madrid are related to hospitality. Of the 19,137 stores, they estimate that about 3,500 will never reopen. “Especially the little ones.” Gutiérrez believes that the recovery, if it comes, will be in September. “And it remains to be seen how the customer reacts.” 120,000 Madrid families lived in this sector until March.
Unemployment already rose in February in the region. 2,147 citizens signed up to the job search lists. In March the figure multiplied by five and in April by twenty. There are more than 400,000 unemployed without counting the ERTE. With the entry into phase 1, the Community hopes to “recover between 35,000 and 55,000 jobs of people who are currently in temporary employment regulation files, according to the Minister of Economy, Employment and Competitiveness of the Community of Madrid, Manuel Giménez.
Entrepreneur Juan Francisco Miguel, 32, will open his production company DrCerebrus this Monday after more than 60 days. “I had 11 employees hired in February and five will return. We have lost a lot of filming. ” He is one of the 50,000 freelancers in the region who will continue to juggle accounts.
The same is true of the tourism sector. Madrid is the European capital with the most average spending per tourist with 355 euros per day, according to data from the Hosteltur portal. Without the noise of suitcases on the streets until July – the region received 11 million in 2019 – the Community is already preparing a flipping in the sector. “The priority now will be inland tourism,” Ayuso announced Friday, without further details.
The turn will also be perceived in mobility, although the time bands will be maintained. More bikes are seen than ever, but there is no planned local model to strengthen this new path. The main problem, according to the General Transport Consortium, will be the management of rush hours in the metro. Under normal conditions, it is three key hours. Between 8.00 and 9.00, between 14.00 and 15.00 and between 18.00 and 19.00. During confinement, there has only been one strip with an upturn in daily commuters, the noon one, but the consortium expects it to return to the three peaks of traffic as the de-escalation progresses.
With all this and despite everything, Madrid will raise the blinds on Monday with the aim of leading the economic comeback in Spain. The phase jump request is not foreseen for 15 days. And meanwhile? Hotels without common areas will reopen, visits to the home of up to 10 friends, the wake will receive 10 relatives per deceased and theaters and cinemas will have a capacity of up to 30%. The economy engine starts again, and almost three months later, at idle.
Information about the coronavirus
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