Editing Economy of Spain (section)

===Export growth===

During the boom years, Spain had built up a [[trade deficit]] eventually amounting a record equivalent to 10% of GDP (2007)<ref name="economia.elpais.com"/> and the [[external debt]] ballooned to the equivalent of 170% of GDP, one of the highest among Western economies.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Then, during the economic downturn, Spain reduced significantly imports due to domestic consumption shrinking while – despite the global slowdown – it has been increasing exports and kept attracting growing numbers of tourists. Spanish exports grew by 4.2% in 2013, the highest rate in the European Union. As a result, after three decades of running a [[trade deficit]] Spain attained in 2013 a [[trade surplus]].<ref name="economia.elpais.com"/> Export growth was driven by [[capital goods]] and the automotive sector and the forecast was to reach a surplus equivalent to 2.5% of GDP in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://comfia.info/noticias/76025.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525165332/http://comfia.info/noticias/76025.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 May 2013 |title=La CE prevé que España tendrá superávit comercial en 2014 |publisher=Comfia.info |access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref>
Exports in 2014 were 34% of GDP, up from 24% in 2009.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{Cite news|date=2014-04-19|title=A pressing issue|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/business/2014/04/19/a-pressing-issue|access-date=2022-01-11|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>
The trade surplus attained in 2013 has been consolidated in 2014 and 2015.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Despite slightly declining exports from fellow EU countries in the same period, Spanish exports continued to grow and in the first half of 2016 the country beat its own record to date exporting goods for 128,041 million euros; from the total, almost 67% were exported to other EU countries.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2016-08-19|title=El récord de exportaciones españolas reduce un 31,4% el déficit comercial|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/economia/2016/08/19/actualidad/1471596014_317985.html|access-date=2022-01-11|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> During this same period, from the 70 members of the [[World Trade Organization]] (whose combined economies amount to 90% of global GDP), Spain was the country whose exports had grown the most.<ref>{{cite news |title=España, el país del mundo en el que más suben las exportaciones |date=19 September 2016 |first1=Carlos |last1=Molina|work=Cinco Días |url=http://cincodias.com/cincodias/2016/09/16/economia/1474025974_387994.html|access-date=19 September 2016 |language=es}}</ref>

In 2016, exports of goods hit historical highs despite a global slowdown in trade, making up for 33% of the total GDP (by comparison, exports represent 12% of GDP in the United States, 18% in Japan, 22% in China or 45% in Germany).<ref name="Spain outperforms 2016"/>

In all, by 2017 foreign sales have been rising every year since 2010, with a degree of unplanned [[import substitution]] -a rather unusual feat for Spain when in an expansive phase- which points to structural competitive gains.<ref name="ExportsTiger"/> According to the most recent 2017 data, about 65% of the country's exports go to other EU members.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/mineco/menuitem.ac30f9268750bd56a0b0240e026041a0/?vgnextoid=0d0d488d5350e510VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=864e154527515310VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD|title= Las exportaciones crecen un 10% hasta junio y siguen marcando máximos históricos|author=Ministerio de Economía Industria y Competitividad|language=es|date=22 August 2017|access-date=23 August 2017}}</ref>