Last week the Spanish Prime Minister was quoted in saying that although tax rises will be “limited in scope”, there will indeed be tax rises. He also insisted that income and business taxes would not see a rise. According to sources this was after a statement made by Elena Salgado, Economic Minister, saying that “all, absolutely all” taxes were set to see a rise.

The good news appears to be that according to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the fall in consumer prices slowed in the month of August. After prices free falling since March, this is a relief for many, avoiding a period of deflation.

However, before anyone starts celebrating, for the second quarter of this year the countries GDP (Gross Domestic Product) dropped further than expected.

In addition to this other INE data showed that the average mortgage loan granted was down by 17% (month on month) from the previous year.

Barcelona and Madrid was reported to have seen an even higher drop, with percentages reaching 19.3 and 24% respectively.

Unemployment was another hot topic with figures for August showing that the number of unemployed in Spain had increased by a significant 84,985.

The latter figure was in relation to it being the first rise in three months, however over the period of a year, 1,100,00 people have now lost their jobs.

The INE’s figures make it even more apparent that Spain’s steps to recovery are still painfully slow.