The Spanish Economy Introduced
The Spanish economy has been one of the hardest hit by the recent global financial crisis. The main reason for this has been the real estate bubble that burst when the crisis hit. For most of the decade Spain had one of the strongest economies in Europe and this attracted large numbers of immigrants. The combination of large population growth and very low interest rates kept the economy booming and real estate prices soared. However when the bubble burst the damage to the Spanish economy was significant. Unemployment has become a huge problem in the last couple of years and is now amongst the highest in Europe. There are however reasons to think that the Spanish economy can recover from its current troubles.
The Spanish economy is the ninth largest in the world which is a pretty impressive feat. For many years Spain was considered the most backward country in Western Europe. It has really only been since the eighties that Spain has started to catch up. During that time they have not only caught up to the other countries in Europe but gone past most of them. Obviously the benefited greatly from European Union membership to help their economy grow but the low taxes in the country have probably been the biggest help. The countries strong banking sector has also helped, it also meant that their financial services sector has remained strong despite the recent financial crisis.
There are however some issues that Spain is going to have to deal with if it is to maintain its position as a leading economy. The most pressing problem is that Spain has few natural resources. Given the size of the country this is a little bit surprising but it is nevertheless the case. This is especially problematic when it comes to energy resources. Right now the country is heavily dependent on energy resources imported from other countries. However this could turn out to be an advantage as Spain is amongst the world's leaders when it comes to developing alternative energy sources. Potentially this could turn into a very lucrative industry for Spain if they can maintain their leadership position and alternative energy sources become widely used.
The other big problem facing the Spanish economy is that their education is consistently ranked as one of the worst in the developed world. It is going to be hard for Spain to maintain its position in the global economy if they are unable to produce the skilled workers that they need. Already Spain relies heavily on skilled workers from other parts of the European Union to fill some of its most important jobs. However with the high unemployment rate that the country is currently facing importing workers is going to be more and more of an issue since it will mean the local population will remain out of work. Spain desperately needs to improve its education system to remain competitive but little progress has been made in this respect.