Political
The actual political system in Spain is a Constitutional monarchy
based on a parliamentary democracy. The power is highly decentralized and
the autonomous communities have a high legislative, executive and fiscal
autonomy.
The Executive Power is shared by the Head of the State and the Prime
Minister. The actual Head of the State is the King Felipe VI. His role is mostly
ceremonial. The actual Prime Minister (also called as President of the
Government) is Mariano Rajoy since December 2011.
According to the index of Political Stability and Absence of
Violence/Terrorism 2009 was the most politically unstable year. After that it
is becoming more stable thenceforward.
On the Corruption Perceptions Index we can see that the level of
corruption raised since 2004, its minimum was in 2015 and the maximum in
2002.
The Indicator of Political Freedom. It measures freedom according to
two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties.
The Civil Liberties index evaluate the freedom of expression and
belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law, and personal
autonomy and individual rights
The charts below show that both political right and civil liberties has a
rate of 1, which makes us conclude that Spain as political freedom.
Regarding to the world, the main political problems that we are facing
are Civil war in Syrian, the treats made by Islamic State that cause changes
in the political stability. The Conflict with USA and North Korea and Conflict
with USA and Russia.
Economical
After six years of recession, Spain start to recovery in 2013 continued
to be strengthened until now. Driven by domestic demand, growth was
supported by households and investor confidence, related to job creation,
deflation, improved credit terms, lower oil prices, the recovery in Europe,
the depreciation of the euro and the implementation of reforms. Growth
exceeded expectations in 2016 (3.1%), driven by domestic demand. It is
expected to slow down in 2017 (2.7%), but economic activity should remain
dynamic. The Spanish unemployment rate has fallen due to the decrease in
its active population and the creation of new temporary jobs, but still
remains very high (under 20%).
After the international financial crisis of 2008-09, financial
stabilization and stimulus programs that started in 2009-11 showed their
results. Austere economic policies have significantly affected economic
performance. The growth of the world economy slipped from 5.1% in 2010
to 2.9% in 2013, since that it has maintain quite the same.
Despite these all the problems, the world economy also shows great
promise. Technology has made possible further advances in a wide range of
fields. Improved global communications have greatly reduced the costs of
international trade, helping the world gain from the international division of
labor, raise living standards, and reduce income disparities among nations.
According to Coface, the overall risk rate from Spain is A3. This means that
changes in the political and economic environment are generally good,
although there is some volatile that influence the corporate payment
behaviour.
Political
The actual political system in Spain is a Constitutional monarchy
based on a parliamentary democracy. The power is highly decentralized and
the autonomous communities, such has Basque country and Navarre, have
a high autonomy in legislative, executive and fiscal levels of legislative,
executive and fiscal autonomy.
The Executive Power is shared by the Head of the State and the Prime
Minister. The actual Head of the State is the King Felipe VI and the
commander-in-chief of the army since 19 June 2014. His role is mostly
ceremonial. The actual Prime Minister, also called as President of the
Government, is Mariano Rajoy since December 2011. He holds the role of
the execution of the law and the management of the routine affairs of the
country. He is elected by the legislative elections and leads for a 4-year
tenure. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the king on the
recommendation of the Prime minister.
The Legislative Power is bicameral. The Parliament, also known as
Cortes Generales, is made up of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies.
The Senate, which has 264 seats, represent the Autonomous Communities
and Departments. The senators are elected by the citizens for 4 years. The
Congress of Deputies, which has currently 350 seats, governs the nature of
the executive once it elects the Prime Minister and can vote out the Prime
Minister by majority vote. The deputies are also elected by universal
suffrage for 4 years from departmental constituencies. The Senate has less
power than the Congress of Deputies, because the Senate has only
exclusive power concerns the autonomous communities.
The index of Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism
measures the possibility that the Spanish government will be weakened or
defeated by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-
motivated violence and terrorism. In the graph below we can observe that
2009 was the most politically unstable year (-0.47 points). After that it is
becoming more stable thenceforward.
The Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International
varieties from 0 which means high corruption to 100 that stands for low
corruption. It evidences the public-sector corruption, in particular
administrative and political corruption. According to the chart, Spain has
increase the level of corruption since 2004, which is minimum was 58 points
in 2015 and the maximum was 71 points in 2002.
The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an evaluation of the state
of freedom in a country as lived by the citizens. It measures freedom
according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The
Political Rights ratings from the Freedom House focus on three categories:
electoral process, political pluralism and participation, and the functioning of
government. The index ranges go from 1, standing for strong rights, to 7,
referring the weak rights.
The Civil Liberties index from the Freedom House evaluate the following:
freedom of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights,
rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights. The rating ranges
from 1 (strong liberties) to 7 (no liberties).
The charts below show that both political right and civil liberties has a
rate of 1, which makes us conclude that Spain as political freedom.
Economical
After two legislative elections and ten months of political blockade, Mariano Rajoy was re-
elected as Prime Minister in October 2016. While Spain narrowly avoided European sanctions
for its failure to meet budgetary targets, the Government's priority was to draft and adopt
the 2017 budget. In order to maintain fiscal discipline and consolidate the recovery, the
budget foresees a deficit of 3.1% GDP in 2017, and - a concession made to the Socialists -
an increase of the minimum wage. Starting in the summer of 2016, measures were taken,
such as increasing corporate tax advances and freezing departmental spending. Economic
imbalances continued to subside in 2016: corporate profitability picked up, debt declined
(132% GDP mid-2016), the number of bankruptcies continued to fall and the solvency of the
banking sector, as well as the quality of its portfolio, improved. Nevertheless, the banking
sector remains fragile, profitability is insufficient and sovereign risk remains significant.
Public debt has stabilised, but remains high (100% of GDP).
