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.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 3% (May 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 11.02% (31 December 2008)
* is part of the Eurozone 
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Spain: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	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)World Bank. "Spain: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	61.103 	58.924 	54.439 	52.975 	48.321 	47.277 	38.376 	34.085 	30.084 	33.801
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Spain: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	31.182 	31.059 	31.054 	27.430 	26.629 	25.647 	26.183 	26.975 	27.741 	24.459
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Spain: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	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.
==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
* Study of the effects on employment of public aid to renewable energy sources (pdf) by Gabriel Calzada Álvarez, March 2009
* Spain Pricks Solar Power Bubble as Greek Fate Looms by Ben Sills, April 2010
* Downgraded Spain decides to shelve worthless enviro-energy projects by David Freddoso, April 2010
* Job Losses From Obama Green Stimulus Foreseen in Spanish Study by Gianluca Baratti, March 2009
* Unemployment soars among Spain's youth by Nelson D. Schwartz, January 2010
Category:Countries