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Good news for property investors in Spain |
Good news for property investors in Spain
 The Spanish Prime Minister, Sr. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has announced on Friday that interest rates in the 13-nation euro-zone have reached their peak after a cycle of hikes by the European Central Bank (ECB).
"The increase in interest rates, in my point of view, has reached its peak," he said during an interview with Spanish public radio. Sr. Zapatero, who faces a general election in March 2008, said that many Spanish families had felt the effects of the recent interest rate hikes in their pockets since the majority of their mortgages were set with variable rates.
Earlier this month, the Spanish Economy Minister, Sr Pedro Solbes, stated that he believes the ECB, which sets monetary policy for a bloc of 300 million people, may even begin lowering rates.
The ECB left its main interest rate unchanged - at 4.0% - at this month's meeting amid continuing global credit market volatility. The ECB president, M. Jean-Claude Trichet, has said that any change in euro-zone interest rates would depend on calm continuing to return to international markets.
As a further indication of a possible down-turn in interest rates, the US Federal Reserve cut its base rate by half a point - to 4.75% - this week, thus giving the ailing US economy a shot in the arm.
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