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Preface
In 1993, China had just begun to carry out the policy of reform and opening up, and there was a certain gap between China and the developed countries in the West in terms of overall strength.
Compared to Spain, the fourth largest country in Europe, Spain's GDP was the seventh largest in the world.
At that time, Spain's GDP was already 509.3 billion US dollars, and our total GDP at that time was 444.7 billion US dollars, which was a full 64.6 billion US dollars less than Spain, and the per capita per capita on the mainland was less than 400 US dollars, the gap was a bit big.
But after a series of changes in Spain, such as participating in World War II, falling into the financial crisis, etc., after such a long time, how is the current Spanish economy?
Whether the gap with the mainland has widened, narrowed, or even overtaken, let's see how Spain has developed in recent years.
History of the origins of Spain
Between the mid-16th century and the early 18th century, Spain was one of the few European powers, and at that time the country mobilized all its forces to conquer the riches and lands of the Americas and Asia.
Spain began to sail the Atlantic Ocean at that time, and its fleet occupied the Caribbean and Gulf Coast, and began to establish many colonies, and was one of the first countries to start colonies.
The Spaniards discovered a lot of gold and silver mines in this area, especially in Peru and Mexico, and sent a large number of people to control these mines.
And they began to exploit a large number of these local mines, and let the locals work for them, so that a large amount of silver and gold were transported to their own country.
In addition to these things, they also sailed to the Philippine Islands and other regions, and also obtained a lot of spice trade in this place, and also made a lot of money from here.
Manila was of great importance to Spain at that time, as it was one of the richest colonial cities during that colonial period.
In particular, the ports of Manila and Aqaba were filled with scarce goods such as spices and silk that the Spanish shippers had obtained.
Sailing through these two ports to Mexico, and then carrying ships along the Atlantic to their own country, such colonies brought incredible wealth to Spain at the time, making it a powerful country at the time.
The economy is in crisis
The wealth plundered in Spain was not well utilized, and it was not used to develop the basic strength of the local area, because Spain was a colonial empire, and it was also a huge consumption in the colonization process.
Spain's government finances have always been in a state of deficit with more than they collect, and this state will not last long.
It was not until the 19th century that Spain's own overseas colonization was swallowed up with the continuous development of new shipping routes and the rise of new states.
With the rise of France and Britain and the entry of some countries into the era of industrialization, the blow to Spain, which was a traditional agricultural society at that time, was a huge blow.
These emerging countries developed the industrial age, and Spain was traditionally agrarian, which led to the backwardness of these emerging countries.
Then came World War II, after World War II, the then ruler of Spain, Franco, began to "close the country", and Spain at that time started a self-sufficient self-contained economic policy, keeping a certain distance from those developed countries.
Because of this decision, the development of industry and agriculture in Spain was slow or even stagnant, and the foreign trade of the whole country was very small, and the development of the whole country fell into a state of stagnation.
It was not until 1986 that Spain chose to join the European Community, reconnect with the world, and began to integrate with the international economic system, and at this time its economic development gradually began to recover.
The Spanish economy is beginning to recover
After joining the European Community in 1986, Spain's economy began to develop rapidly, and the overall income of its citizens began to slowly increase.
At that time, Spain began to rationalize the improvement of shipbuilding, textiles, steel, etc., so that these industries were regulated and developed more smoothly.
Subsequently, Spain also began to develop the research and development of computers, office automation design, electronic machinery, etc., and these departments are also steadily improving under the opportunity of the European Community.
Then the 1992 Barcelona Olympics also brought great opportunities for the development of Spain, when the infrastructure and tourism were vigorously developed, providing strong support for the economic development.
In order to ensure the success of the Games and the development of the local economy, the local government has carried out a large-scale urban renovation program, built and renovated a large number of stadiums, and built new hotels, airports, roads and other public facilities.
These moves are all for the sake of the local economy, and it is said that the Spanish stock market rose by 33% before the start of the Olympics, which shows how much the campaign helped the Spanish economy at that time.
According to the statistics at that time, the construction of the Olympic Games played a role of more than 30 billion US dollars in the economic development of Spain.
With the help of this development, in combination with its own traditional advantageous industries, his economy has been gradually rising, with such smooth development, in the nineties of the last century became a rare emerging economy in the world.
In contrast, at that time, we had just begun to explore the path of reform and opening up, because the overall development was relatively late, and we could not be compared with such developed countries in the West in terms of economy.
But at that time, the road of China's reform and opening up has been slowly on the right track, and at this time we are a sun that is slowly rising, although it is slow, but the pace of rise is irresistible.
The financial crisis of '08
Spain's economy was affected by the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States in '08, and at the end of 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States began to hit the global financial markets, causing the global economic depression.
The shock wave of the Great Depression was the first to affect Spain's once thriving real estate and construction industries, and the overheated real estate industry formed in the rapid economic development.
At that time, the real estate sector was the main pillar of economic growth in Spain, and it was booming before it was shocked.
However, the property market formed by the overheated economy began to collapse after the shock wave, many construction sites and real estate began to stop, and a large number of construction workers lost their jobs and did not work.
With a series of effects, the harm of the financial crisis gradually became apparent, and the purchasing power of residents at that time declined, and many people who bought houses had no way to continue to repay their loans, and the lack of money to repay the loans led to a serious liquidity crisis in the banks.
With this beginning, other economies in Spain have also begun to suffer, including the tourism industry and the automobile manufacturing industry.
There is a crisis in industry, production has begun to decline, the people have no jobs, and the number of unemployed people at home is gradually rising, according to the survey, because the number of unemployed people affected is as high as 26%, and more than 50% of them are young people.
Faced with such a situation, Spain's economy began to fall into a downturn or even stagnation, and it was already a difficult situation.
In this case, the former European powers have been hit, the economic crisis has become more and more serious, and some outsiders have derided Spain and several other affected countries as the "stupid pig five".
In order to get out of the current predicament, Spain decided to begin to adjust the direction of its economic development, and began to move towards diversified development, industrial transformation and upgrading.
Under a series of adjustments, the local industrial pillars are also slowly recovering, and Spain is also beginning to slowly come out of this gloomy economic crisis.
Spain's economy is recovering again
It was not until 2014 that Spain's economy began to recover slowly, and the previous industry was slowly picking up, and his economy began to grow slowly.
According to the survey, Spain's GDP growth reached 3.1% in 2017, making it the largest in the eurozone.
With the development of the past few years, he has also vigorously developed the new energy industry, using solar energy resources and wind energy, and gradually improving in the economy.
After several years of recovery and development, Spain has recovered a lot more than the previous blow, but Spain's overall GDP is still relatively small.
epilogue
Spain's GDP in 2023 is $1.5 trillion, an increase of less than three times compared to 1993.
Compared with China's total GDP in 1993, it has increased by about 40 times by 2023, from $444.7 billion to $17.51 trillion.
A comparison of such data can clearly see that China's total GDP is now 11 times higher than that of Spain, from 30 years ago to the present, the economic development of the two countries has formed a great contrast, before Spain was leading now China is leading.
In the face of such a reversal, the Chinese people have endured a lot of hardships in exchange for a situation, and it is also an important result since the reform and opening up.
I also hope that the mainland's economy will continue to develop, not be affected by the outside world, and that the pace of development will be accelerated, and that the country will get better and better, and the people's lives will get better and better.
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Resources
On April 13, 2023, China Youth Network released "Spanish Minister of Economy: China is an important player in the world economy, and Europe cannot turn its back on China"
On May 10, 2023, the Bank of Spain asked the government to reassess its economic reform measures