Short facts about the economy in Spain
| 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: |
4% (2000
est.) |
| GDP - per
capita: |
purchasing power parity - $18,000 (2000
est.) |
| GDP -
composition by sector: |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 31%
services: 65%
(1999) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
NA% |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.2%
(1990) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
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: |
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: |
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 |
| Exchange
rates: |
euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January
2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); pesetas per US dollar - 149.40 (1998),
146.41 (1997), 126.66 (1996) |
| Fiscal
year: |
calendar year | Source: World Factbook |
