The olive oil effect

Spain is exporting its way out of economic intensive care

By Jason Karaian

Quarzt - February 22, 2014

Its banks are a mess and unemployment is rampant. So why are officials from Spain’s economic ministry all smiles?

Thanks to record-setting exports and a fall in imports, Spain chopped its trade deficit in half last year, according to data published by the ministry (link in Spanish). Overall, exports grew by 5.2% in 2013, one of  the better performances from a large European economy. (The UK managed only 1% export growth, Germany and Italy saw exports stagnate, and France saw sales slide by 1.6%.)
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