A year after a 2023 that showed the Spanish economy, including Valencia’s, performing better than expected with a growth of 2.5 percent, CaixaBank’s president, Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri, urged this morning to focus on deep reforms that have been pending in Spain for decades. He stressed the need for a credible, sustainable, and implementable consolidation of public accounts to reduce debt, which poses a risk to the economy, and highlighted additional priorities beyond the fiscal measures needed.
Around his remarks at CaixaBank’s General Shareholders’ Meeting held this morning at the Valencia Conference Palace, where he was accompanied by the bank’s chief executive officer, Gonzalo Gortázar, Goirigolzarri noted that productivity stands as the economy’s main weak point, having shown only modest growth compared with other European regions. He argued that improving productivity requires supply-side policies and reforms backed by broad consensus, something that current parliamentary arithmetic does not seem likely to deliver in the near term.
Beyond forecasts for the overall economy, the president anticipated that Spain’s growth, which he estimates will settle around 1.9 percent for this year, will move from a slow start to stronger momentum thanks to factors such as inflationary containment and, after 2023’s price increases, lower interest rates. He cautioned, however, that he does not expect the 2 percent inflation target set by central banks to be reached before 2026.
In addition to economic projections, Goirigolzarri reminded attendees of changes in state policies that lean toward protectionism seen in many parts of the world, with implications that he described as profound. He also referenced ongoing conflicts such as the Ukraine situation and tensions in the Middle East, and noted that in 2024 half of the world’s population is expected to participate in elections, with European elections in the summer and the United States elections in November as the main electoral moments.
Crecimiento en 2023
The remarks by CaixaBank’s president followed the approval of the prior year’s accounts, which showed the bank ending 2023 with a net profit of 4.816 billion euros, up 53.9 percent from 2022, driven by higher interest rates. Unlike Santander, BBVA, and Sabadell, CaixaBank did not surpass its all-time peak of 5.226 billion euros reached in 2021 after absorbing Bankia at a price below its book value. Recurrent revenues from banking activity reached 15.137 billion euros in 2023, up 31.6 percent from the previous year.
In this context, CaixaBank revised its strategic plan for 2022-2024, increasing the capital distribution to shareholders from the originally planned 9.0 billion euros by 2024 to a total of 12.0 billion euros, with about 6.9 billion already distributed by February. Goirigolzarri also clarified that CaixaBank proposed dividends with a payout between 50 and 60 percent of the consolidated net profit, to be paid in two cash installments.