Spain
Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975, and rapid economic modernization (Spain joined the EU in 1986) gave Spain a dynamic and rapidly growing economy and made it a global champion of freedom and human rights. The government continues to battle the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist organization, but its major focus for the immediate future will be on measures to reverse the severe economic recession that started in mid-2008.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
- Central bank discount rate: 3% (May 2009)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 11.02% (31 December 2008)[1]
- is part of the Eurozone
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 617 880 | 580 673 | 609 108 | 686 247 | 883 667 | 1 044 250 | 1 130 200 | 1 232 350 | 1 437 910 | 1 604 230 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | 61.103 | 58.924 | 54.439 | 52.975 | 48.321 | 47.277 | 38.376 | 34.085 | 30.084 | 33.801 |
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 31.182 | 31.059 | 31.054 | 27.430 | 26.629 | 25.647 | 26.183 | 26.975 | 27.741 | 24.459 |
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 32.052 | 31.277 | 30.488 | 26.739 | 25.550 | 26.041 | 24.952 | 24.989 | 25.193 | 26.271 |
| Debt to revenue (years) | 1.960 | 1.897 | 1.753 | 1.931 | 1.815 | 1.843 | 1.466 | 1.264 | 1.084 | 1.382 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_ES - ↑ World Bank. "Spain: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Spain: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Spain: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Spain: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
External links
- Spain on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Spain
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile
- Spain's Dire Choice: Flee The Euro Or Crush Its Own Wages by Gregory White, September 2010
- New Light on the Prehistory of the Theory of Banking and the School of Salamanca (pdf) by Jesus Huerta de Soto, 1996
- Spain's Dropout Generation by Jaime Levy Moreno, June 2010
- Mercantilism in Spain by Murray N. Rothbard, from An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, May 2010