The Spanish Economy outlook

Spain is a dynamic country which in the past decade has achieved sustained growth (3.4%) that is higher than the European Union average (2%).

What is more, inflation in Spain has slowly fallen since the end of the 1980s. Average inflation between 1987 and 1992 was 5.7%; it dropped below 5% for the first time in 1993, and it has been shrinking progressively since then. The year-on-year inflation rate for 2009 was 0.7%.

The Spanish economy structure is that of a developed country, with the services sector being the main contributor to GDP, followed by industry. These two sectors represent approximately 88% of Spain’s GDP with agriculture’s share today representing a 2.7% of GDP, and declining sharply as a result of the country’s economic growth.

Nevertheless, since September 2007 we have been immerse in an international crisis which has grown gradually worse and has spread around the world until becoming a international crisis. In this respect, the prudent budgetary policy followed in Spain in recent years (with a ratio of government debt to GDP that is 20 points below the European average) permits the pursuit of counter-cyclical and structural policies aimed at favouring an economic model based on growth offered by new sectors located higher up in the value chain, such as biotechnology, renewable energy or telecommunications and information technologies.