AEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA,
IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol,
IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MTCR, NACC, NAM
(guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCRO,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNPREDEP, UNPROFOR, UNU, UPU, WCL,
WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jaime De OJEDA Eiseley
chancery: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037
telephone: [1] (202) 452-0100, 728-2340
FAX: [1] (202) 833-5670
consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami,
New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, and San Juan (Puerto Rico)

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Richard N. GARDNER
embassy: Serrano 75, 28006 Madrid
mailing address: APO AE 09642
telephone: [34] (1) 577-4000, 577-2301
FAX: [34] (1) 577-5735
consulate(s) general: Barcelona

Flag: three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width),
and red with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the
yellow band; the coat of arms includes the royal seal framed by the
Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and
Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar

Economy
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Economic overview: Spain, with a mixed capitalist economy and a
per capita GDP two-thirds that of the four leading economies of
Western Europe, has shared with these countries the recession of the
early 1990s, the gradual upturn of 1994-95, and the ongoing
controversies over the timing and terms of European economic union.
Reduction of the budget deficit - at 5.9% of GDP in 1995 - to meet
the Maastricht monetary convergence criterion of 3% by 1997 remains
the primary goal of Spanish economic policy, but political pressures
had kept the Socialist government from implementing the full range
of reforms necessary to meet this goal. Spain's official
unemployment rate of 23% is the highest in the EU, and the troubled
Socialists had been reluctant to cut social spending. Parliament
rejected the administration's proposed 1996 budget because of
political wrangling - not because of great differences with the
substance of the spending plan - forcing the government to continue
spending at 1995 levels and use piecemeal decrees to raise
consumption taxes to a level consistent with inflatio