Niño-Becerra and Sánchez-Llibre agree on highlighting the worth of family businesses and the importance of staying alert to opportunities

Santiago Niño-Becerra, who is a Doctor of Economics, professor and author, and Josep Sánchez i Llibre, the President of Foment del Treball Nacional, were among the participants at the 22nd Ordinary and Extraordinary Assembly of the Catalan Association of Family Businesses (ASCEF), which was held online on Tuesday, October 6.

Professor Niño-Becerra gave a talk entitled The Breaking of Trends: The New Normal, in which he examined the situation caused by a pandemic “that has broken economic trends.” He added that “to find a situation in Spain similar to the one experienced between the months of December and May we have to go back to the Civil War.”

The Professor explained that Spain’s main problem is “tax fraud” but that the country also “has a problem with income and expenditure, and a major problem with productivity.” In Niño-Becerra’s view, the Covid-19 virus and its consequent crisis has had a far greater effect on Spain “because its economy was already bad previously.”

The survivors of this situation will be those with knowledge tools to navigate this complex world, those who master innovative tools or those with a good liquidity cushion,” he said. “It will be important to create added value and to specialise; to be a sectoral leader: to be in the upper layer of added value and productivity.”

Josep Sánchez i Llibre, the President of the Foment del Treball Nacional

The Assembly was closed by Mr Sánchez i Llibre, the President of Foment del Trebrall, who said that “employers are the only ones who can overcome the crisis and salvage the current situation because we generate employment and wealth.

The crisis will generate new opportunities that family businesses will have to put into practice,” said Mr Sánchez i Llibre, who called for the general budgets for 2021 “to be a great stimulus for economic recovery, with much public investment to increase productivity, stimulate demand and boost the economy.

Today’s economic situation is very delicate,” he added before acknowledging “the great effort made by family businesses” in this context.