Spain’s economy is often defined as a mixed capitalist economy. Spain is one of the four main West European economies, and its influence and incidence within other countries and economies, not only local but world wide economies, can be of extremely great importance sometimes. According to the figures expressed by World Bank in the year 2004, Spain was the eight largest economy of the world. This way, it is not very difficult to realize the importance and the impact which this country’s economy has on others.
Spain had a great importance on the launching of the Euro, the European monetary unit which was introduced to the market at beginnings of 1999. Aznar, Spain’s former Prime Minister worked towards turning this country into one of the first ones where this monetary unit would circulate. This way, since January 1st 1999, Spain has been using the Euro as its main currency along with many other European countries.
During the periods of time in which Aznar was Spain’s Prime Minister, economy followed a path towards privatization, de-regulation and liberalization. Besides this, during those years Spain’s economy also saw some important changes regarding taxes which would affect different areas in varied ways.
According to the data of July 2005, Spain’s unemployment to that date was of around 9,8 %, being lower than some years before but still considered high. Zapatero, the Prime Minister elected in 2004, has expressed intentions of focusing on combating tax fraud and re-introducing some regulations on the labor market which had been canceled before. Besides this, Zapatero also has expressed the wish that the intervention of the government in businesses would be reduced.
The economy of Spain is mainly based on several areas and aspects. Among the main factors affecting Spain’s economy there is the construction industry, manufacturing, and tourism. Some other interesting data can be found in the fact that this country’s population has grown about 5% between 1990 and 2000, the consumption of energy throughout the country is twice as much as it was 20 years ago, and urban areas have expanded in around 25%.