Spain takes steps to revive sluggish economy
15/8/2008 16:41
The Spanish cabinet yesterday approved a package of 24 measures to revive
its slowing economy.
These initiatives are a "permanent agenda for economic
reform," aimed at quick economic recovery and maintaining social cohesion, Prime
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters.
Spain's economy is
"stagnant and braking," Zapatero said.
The approved plan will provide an
additional 20 billion euros (US$30 billion) for the funding and mortgage
guarantees of small and medium enterprises in 2009 and 2010.
It also
envisages new frameworks to boost the housing, transport and energy
sectors.
The 24 new measures are in addition to an 18-billion-euro
(27-billion-US dollar) spending plan announced in April.
Spain's economy is
the fourth-largest in the eurozone and has been in good shape for more than one
decade.
However, the National Statistics Institute recently said the economy
expanded just 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the
first.
Xinhua
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