Mother Earth Travel > Country Index > Spain > Map Economy History |
| Economy - overview: Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a
GDP that on a per capita basis is 80% that of the four leading West
European economies. Its center-right government successfully worked to
gain admission to the first group of countries launching the European
single currency on 1 January 1999. The AZNAR administration has continued
to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of the economy
and has introduced some tax reforms to that end. Unemployment has been
steadily falling under the AZNAR administration but remains the highest in
the EU at 14%. The government intends to make further progress in changing
labor laws and reforming pension schemes, which are key to the
sustainability of both Spain's internal economic advances and its
competitiveness in a single currency area. Adjusting to the monetary and
other economic policies of an integrated Europe - and further reducing
unemployment - will pose challenges to Spain in the next few years. GDP: purchasing power parity - $720.8 billion (2000 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 3.6% (1999 est.), 4% (2000 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $18,000 (2000 est.) GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4% industry: 31% services: 65% (1999) Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 25.2% (1990) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.3% (1999 est.), 3.4% (2000 est.) Labor force: 17 million (2000) Labor force - by occupation: services 64%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 28%, agriculture 8% (1997 est.) Unemployment rate: 16% (1999 est.), 14% (2000 est.) Budget: revenues: $105 billion expenditures: $109 billion, including capital expenditures of $12.8 billion (2000 est.) Industries: textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism Industrial production growth rate: 2.7% (1999 est.), 4.5% (2000 est.) Electricity - production: 197.694 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 57.71% hydro: 12.1% nuclear: 28.28% other: 1.91% (1999) Electricity - consumption: 189.57 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - exports: 6.23 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - imports: 11.945 billion kWh (1999) Agriculture - products: grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish Exports: $120.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) Exports - commodities: machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, other consumer goods Exports - partners: EU 71% (France 20%, Germany 12%, Italy 9%, Portugal 9%, UK 8%), Latin America 6%, US 5% (2000) Imports: $153.9 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods; foodstuffs, consumer goods (1997) Imports - partners: EU 68% (France 18%, Germany 16%, Italy 9%, UK 7%, Benelux 8%), US 8%, OPEC 5%, Latin America 4%, Japan 3% (1999) Debt - external: $90 billion (1993 est.) Economic aid - donor: ODA, $1.3 billion (1995) Currency: Spanish peseta (ESP); euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Spain at a fixed rate of 166.386 Spanish pesetas per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002. SOURCE: The World Factbook |
Mother Earth Travel > Country Index > Spain > Map Economy History