Artículo sobre la situación precaria de España en el New York Times

Spain: May 13, 2010


After two decades of dizzying growth — and the collapse of a housing bubble — there is a pervasive feeling in Spain that the party is over.
Spain is mired in a deep recession. It faces an unemployment rate of 20 percent, a budget gap of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product, an overhang of 800,000 unsold new homes and an economy expected to shrink by 0.4 percent in 2010 — and like euro-zone partner Greece, it may have difficulty repaying its debt. Madrid has little wiggle room if investors shun an expected 85 billion euros in new bond offerings, and given Spain's size, its debt crisis is seen by many as the looming problem for world markets.
In late April 2010, Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's debt rating. With Greece tottering on the brink of financial collapse, fear that the European debt crisis will spread has rattled investors.
On the surface, Spain's debt load appears manageable. Its debt relative to gross domestic product, the broadest measure of its economy, is 54 percent — compared with 120 percent for Greece and 80 percent for Portugal. But what Spain does have is the highest twin deficit, or combined budget and current account deficits, of any country in the world except Iceland, a reflection of how dependent it is on increasingly fickle foreign investors for financing. Spain has 225 billion euros in debt coming due in 2010 — an amount that is about the size of Greece's economy.
Spanairds have accused José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the center-left prime minister, of sitting on the sidelines for too long, fearing political repercussions. Mr. Zapatero had presented an austerity plan based mostly on small measures that would not kick in until 2011 at the earliest. His actions have been criticized as ineffective, if not incoherent.
On May 12, 2010, Mr. Zapatero changed course sharply, setting out sweeping spending cuts, reversing past promises to spare pensions and public-sector salaries from the knife. He announced pay cuts of about 5 percent for civil servants — and 15 percent for government ministers — as well as other measures totaling €15 billion, or $19 billion.