Source: Fox Business
MADRID -(Dow Jones)- The Spanish government plans to privatize the country's top two airports, as part of a series of measures seeking to jumpstart anemic economic growth, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Wednesday.
Zapatero told legislators in Parliament that Madrid's Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat airports will be run by private operators under a licensing, or concession system. Both airports have been recently remodeled and expanded to absorb increased passenger traffic in coming years.
The measures announced by Zapatero seek to foster investment and growth after Spain's timid economic recovery stalled in the third quarter, as government austerity measures, high unemployment and weakening exports weighed on output.
The government is also stepping up efforts to rebuild market confidence after Spain's risk premium--as measured by the spread of Spain's 10-year bond over the German equivalent--hit record highs, rising financing costs as a bailout for Ireland flared up market turbulences on concerns about the fiscal soundness of peripheral euro zone members.
The country's airport operator AENA will also sell a 49% stake to private operators, above initial plans to sell a 30% stake. The government is also planning to sell 30% of Spain's state-owned lottery company, Zapatero added.
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