Extraordinary development of Spanish imperialism: The BBVA grows by 40% and net profit increases by 65% in Mexico!

BBVA tower in the Federal District of Mexico. Source: Servir al Pueblo

We publish an unofficial translation of an article found in Servir al Pueblo

The past year, 2022, was a year of extraordinary profits for the Spanish imperialist bourgeois. The monopolies increased their profits in comparison with previous years. This is evident in the banking sector, where the monopolies (Caixabank, BBVA, Santander, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja) earned 20.85 billions of euros more in 2022 than in the previous year, an increase of 28% since the previous year.

The increase of the interest rate that we announced some days ago is directly related with this extraordinary profits. The bourgeois press Reuters said that: “Banks in all Europe are profiting from the increase of the interest rate despite economic uncertainty and fear of recession”.

The Santander group, leader of Spanish imperialism in Latin America -main area of influence of Spanish Imperialism- was the one who profited most, obtaining 9.605 billions of euros, 18% more than the previous year, followed by BBVA with a growth of 40% from the previous year with 4.653 billions of euros. With this we find BBVA with a growth of 40% two years in a row, and also 40% in the first third of 2023 compared to last year! What can be highlighted about this case is that the BBVA’s high figures have been obtained not in national operations, but abroad: in Mexico.

Mexico is an oppressed nation dominated by imperialism, mainly by Yankee imperialism, but there are different imperialists that also operate in the country to try to profit from their operations. Spanish imperialism is an important agent, with great development of banking companies and also electric companies, such as Iberdrola. In Mexico, BBVA’s net profit grew by 65%, while credit income increased by 48%.

Thus, the Spanish Government approved at the end of 2022 a new, temporary, tax on extraordinary income in banking, applicable from January 1, 2023 and also in 2024. The social democratic coalition needs to pretend that it governs for the working masses, because it has sold so much smoke that it does not know what to do anymore. This tax has not served to stop any extraordinary profits. The BBVA group, which breaks records with 40%, would have reached 56%! The proceeds will manage the Spanish State which, led by the financial oligarchy, will make it so that in one way or another, it returns to their hands, either by subsidizing large imperialist projects, increasing the military budget or even creating more charity programs (Minimum Vital Income, food stamps, aid for rent, etc.) in the face of an immense industrial reserve army that does not have what they need to survive.

The large increase in profits is also noticeable in the electricity sector, where the monopolies (Iberdrola, Naturgy and Endesa) had a 40% growth in profits during 2021, and 24% more in the first half of 2022 than the same period of the year before. According to the National Stock Market Commission (CNMV) “The net amount of ordinary turnover for the first half of the year 2022 amounted to 16,737 billion euros with a growth of 83.4% compared with the first half of 2021, mainly as the result of higher energy prices in this period”.

The social democratic government of the PSOE (Socialist Workers Party of Spain) and Unidas Podemos (United We Can) does not know where to hide because of how ashamed they are. The highest profits of the Spanish monopolies since the 2008 crack and the burst of the real-estate bubble, and this happens during the years of social democratic government. How can there be a “government for the working people”, as Pedro Sanchez and Yolanda Diaz says, when the poor is constantly poorer and the monopolies constantly richer?

Words are not enough, but facts are objective: Spanish imperialism is stronger than before, the military is reinforced and the State continues its militarization; the monopolies, beating records year by year; the broad working masses constantly poorer because of the increase of the cost of living, specially in food, energy and rent.

This year three elections coincides in most places: local, autonomic and general. The numbers speaks by themselves: social democracy governs by and for Spanish imperialism. Do we continue thinking that the less bad option is an option?

Don’t vote, struggle!

Elections no, revolution yes!