Spain

Economy - overview:
The Spanish economy grew every year from 1994 through 2008 before entering a recession that started in the third quarter of 2008. Spain’s mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is approaching that of the largest West European economies. The Socialist president, Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO, in office since 2004, has made mixed progress in carrying out key structural reforms. The economy was greatly affected, especially after Zapatero’s second term began in April 2008, by the bursting of the housing bubble and construction boom that had fueled much of the economic growth between 2001 and 2007. The global financial crisis exacerbated the economic downturn. GDP growth in 2008 was 1.3%, well below the 3% or higher growth the country enjoyed from 1997 through 2007. The Spanish banking system is considered solid, thanks in part to conservative oversight by the European Central Bank, and government intervention to rescue banks on the scale seen elsewhere in Europe in 2008 was not necessary. After considerable success since the mid-1990s in reducing unemployment to a 2007 low of 8%, Spain suffered a major spike in unemployment in the last few months of 2008, finishing the year with an unemployment rate over 13%.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$1.378 trillion (2008 est.)
$1.36 trillion (2007)
$1.337 trillion (2006)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$1.683 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.1% (2008 est.)
3.7% (2007 est.)
3.9% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$34,600 (2008 est.)
$34,300 (2007 est.)
$33,100 (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 28.9%
services: 67.5% (2008 est.)
Labor force:
23.1 million (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 26.4%
services: 69.5% (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate:
13.9% (2008 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 26.6% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
32 (2005)
Investment (gross fixed):
30.1% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $443.3 billion
expenditures: $535.6 billion (2008 est.)
Public debt:
37.5% of GDP (2008)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
NA
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
9.54% (31 December 2008)
Stock of money:
NA
note: see entry for the European Union for money supply in the euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 16 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money and quasi money circulating within their own borders
Stock of quasi money:
NA
Stock of domestic credit:
$3.724 trillion (30 November 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$1.132 trillion (31 December 2008)
Agriculture - products:
grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish
Industries:
textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism, clay and refractory products, footwear, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment
Industrial production growth rate:
-6.5% (2008)
Electricity - production:
294.3 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - consumption:
276.1 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - exports:
14.52 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - imports:
8.773 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Oil - production:
29,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption:
1.611 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports:
181,800 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - imports:
1.777 million bbl/day (2005)
Oil - proved reserves:
150 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:
88 million cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
34.43 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
34.47 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
2.548 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Current account balance:
-$152.5 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:
$292.8 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:
machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods
Exports - partners:
France 18.8%, Germany 10.8%, Portugal 8.6%, Italy 8.5%, UK 7.6%, US 4.2% (2007)
Imports:
$444.9 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments
Imports - partners:
Germany 15.7%, France 12.7%, Italy 8.4%, China 5.8%, UK 4.8%, Netherlands 4.6% (2007)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$21.38 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external:
$2.478 trillion (30 September 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$606.8 billion (2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$738.5 billion (2008 est.)
Exchange rates:
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)