La Gaceta
Amarillo Pasion
Spanish October

Spain at a Glance

Spain is a highly developed country with an energetic economy that has become the star performer in the European Union. Its economy has outpaced the average performance for the last 10 years and is the 5th largest in Europe and the 8th largest among OECD countries.

Spain's potential as a business partner is reflected by its GDP, which reached US$1434.3 billion in 2007, rank at the 9th place among all the countries, with an increasing annual growth of about 3.3%. (Source: Spain Data Profile of The World Bank Organization)

Service sector accounts for about 60% of the GDP in 2007. Retailing, tourism, banking and telecommunications have all made a crucial contribution to economic activities. The tourist industry is especially important and Spain was the second most popular destination in the world with more than 58 million visitors (Source: National Statistics Institute of Spain). Other booming industries are professional services including trade related services and transportation. In the agricultural sector, Spain is a particularly important producer of wine, olive oil, fruit and vegetables.

Spain's most prominent manufacturing industry is vehicle production, which accounts for about 5% of GDP and exports more than 80% of its output. Spain is the world's 5th largest automobile producer produced in 2006.

Bilateral trade between Spain and Hong Kong has surged in the last years as a result of Spanish companies’ interests to buy and outsource to low cost regions such as China in view of the intensified competition. Hong Kong’s total exports to Spain increased by 6% to US$1.7 billion during January – September, 2006, while its imports from Spain grew by 7% to US$0.4 billion. (Source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council)

Population

46,157,822 (2008)

Language

  • Official Language: Spanish
  • Regional Languges: Catalan, Basque, Galician, Valencian

Standard Time

  • One hour ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) from the end of October to the end of March.
  • Two hours ahead of GMT the rest of the year.
  • Canary Islands’ time is one hour behind all year round.

Climate:

Spain is divided into four broad types of climatic regions:

  • Cool winters, mild summers and abundant rainfall throughout the year in Atlantic areas;
  • Mild winters, dry and hot summers, and little rainfall in the Mediterranean.

Profile of Spain


 
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