The ratings on the Kingdom of Spain reflect: Remarkable fiscal consolidation over the past few years. The improvement in Spain's general government deficits and debt burden has been due not only to declining interest payments and strong revenues, but also to tight expenditure control. The general government budget is forecast to be broadly balanced from 2004, following deficits below 0.5% of GDP in 2001-2003. General government debt will continue to decline, to close to 45.0% of GDP by 2006, down from a projected 52.0% in 2003. Sustained progress on structural reforms to labor and product markets. This has increased the resilience of the Spanish economy and labor market over the past few years, leading to a robust economic performance. As
