ABSTRACT
The Spanish economy continued to experience a deceleration of its rate of growth in 1991. The annual growth of its real GDP had started declining in 1989. This rate declined from 5.2% in 1988, to 4.8% in 1989, to 3.7% in 1990 and to 2.5% in 1991. This continuous fall in the annual rate of growth of GDP was due to a strong decline in the annual growth of internal investment whose rate fell from 13.8% in 1988 to 6.9% in 1990 and to 1. 6% in 1991. Concurrently, gross national saving fell from 22.7% of the nominal GDP in 1988 to 21.7% in 1991. Spaniards were allocating an increasing share of their disposable income to the purchase of consumer goods to the detriment of productive investment and of the country’s external current account (Banco de Bilbao Vizcaya, 1992, 7-14).
