Business in Spain. Spanish economy, foreign trade. Madrid Barcelona

Course summary (Doing business in Spain):

Spain is a highly developed country, A member of the European Union and one of the countries which have adopted the Euro as their single currency. The population in Spain is roughly 43 million people. Approximately 20% is under 19 years of age; 63% is between 19 and 65 years old, and 17% is over 65. The population density is 83 inhabitants per square kilometer. The most populated cities in Spain are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Sevilla.

Catalonia is in the north-eastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. This privileged position means that Catalans enjoy a pleasant climate most of the year, which contributes substantially to their high quality of life. Thanks to its remarkable geographical position, Catalonia is the gateway between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, and home to almost two-thirds of the Catalan population. EENI is located in Catalonia.

Spanish is the official language in the entire national territory. However, other languages coexist with Spanish in certain regions of Spain. These are: Catalan in Catalonia, Galician in Galicia, Basque in the Basque country, Valencian in Valencia, and Majorcan in the Balearic Islands. To better understand why Spanish is such an important and useful language let's look at some facts. Spanish is spoken by more than 500 million people worldwide and is official language in 21 countries, with over 330 million native speakers (About spanish language...)

Spanish economy
According to official figures from OECD, Gross domestic product (GDP) placed Spain the eight World economy in GDP terms. The structure of the Spanish economy is that of a developed country, with the services sector being the main contributor to GDP followed by industry. These two sectors represent almost 90% of Spain’s GDP. Agriculture’s share has declined sharply as a result of the country’s intense economic growth and today represents 4% of GDP.

Domestic Market. The rapid growth of the Spanish economy in recent years has been driven by strong domestic demand in the context of an increasingly open economy. Spain has a market of 43 million people with an estimated per capita income of roughly 20,800 €, plus an additional injection of demand coming from the 82.6 million people who visit the country.

Spain is an extremely dynamic country, and has traditionally achieved very high economic growth rates, over and above the average for other industrialized countries. According to Bank of Spain, growth in 2006 was 2.4 percent, significantly above the European Union (EU), where average GDP growth reached just 0.6 percent last year and GDP was around US$ 743 billion in 2006.

Inflation in Spain has fallen steadily since the late 1980’s. The rate of inflation was kept under 5% for the first time in 1993, and was further reduced in subsequent years to under 4% and its current 2.6%.

The impressive reduction in Spain's long term interest rates from 10% in 1993 to the current 4.2% is particularly noteworthy.

Since joining the European Union, Spain has experienced sweeping changes in Foreign trade. Exports have grown faster than international commerce, increasing Spain’s share of world trade. At the same time, Spain’s industrial sector has naturally looked to the European market: exports and imports are for the most part with EU member nations, following the development of competitive advantages, as the result of the restructuring of Spain’s industries over the last decade.

Spain’s main trading partners are EU countries, representing 71% of total exports and 63% of total imports. Japan accounted for 0.7% of exports and 2% of imports. Latin American countries made up for 4% of Spanish exports and 3% of imports, while the United States accounted for 4% of Spanish exports and 3% of its imports.

Spain is a nexus between different cultures (European, Mediterranean, Latin, Arabic, Africans ...), is the natural bridge between the European Union and Latin American and USA (40 million native Spanish speakers). Spain is a multicultural country open to other cultures. About Spain and Catalonia.

Strategies of Spain companies (Es)

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Business in Spain, Economy, foreign trade, Madrid, Barcelona, Doing business, World economy, GDP, rapid growth, Business opportunities, industrial, services sector, Bilbao, Valencia, Master, international business