Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sections
You are here: Home europe Spain Spain: Economy Overview

Spain: Economy Overview

05 November 2009
by Ina Dimireva -- last modified 05 November 2009

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.


Advertisement

Economy Overview

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 1.2%, 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):

$1.403 trillion (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13
$1.386 trillion (2007 est.)
$1.337 trillion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate):

$1.612 trillion (2008 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

1.2% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 169
3.7% (2007 est.)
3.9% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$34,700 (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
$34,300 (2007 est.)
$33,100 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 3.4%
industry: 29%
services: 67.6% (2008 est.)

Labor force:

22.85 million (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 28

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 4%
industry: 26.4%
services: 69.5% (2007 est.)

Unemployment rate:

13.9% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 147
8.3% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):

29.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 25

Budget:

revenues: $598.1 billion
expenditures: $659.1 billion (2008 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

4.1% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 102
2.8% (2007 est.)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

9.54% (31 December 2008)

Stock of domestic credit:

$3.196 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 8
$2.976 trillion (31 December 2007)

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:

-2.3% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 157

Oil - production:

28,130 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 70

Natural gas - production:

17 million cu m (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 89

Current account balance:

$-131.8 billion (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 189
$-145.4 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$285.4 billion (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
$256.7 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods

Exports - partners:

France 18.4%, Germany 10.6%, Portugal 8.7%, Italy 8%, UK 6.7%, US 4.2% (2008)

Imports:

$414.5 billion (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 12
$380.2 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments

Imports - partners:

Germany 14.5%, France 11.1%, Italy 7.4%, China 6.3%, UK 4.6%, Netherlands 4.4% (2008)

Debt - external:

$2.313 trillion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 7
$2.299 trillion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$636.5 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
$570.7 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$765 billion (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
$687.4 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Exchange rates:

euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)

Source: CIA - The World Factbook

Sponsor a Guide

EUbusiness Guides offer background information and web links about key EU business issues.

Promote your services by providing your own practical information and help to EUbusiness members, with your brand and contact details.

To sponsor a Guide phone us on +44 (0)20 7193 7242 or email sales.

EU Guides