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 continue to record small surpluses from 2004, following the better-than-targeted general government surplus of 0.3% of GDP in 2003. General government debt will continue to decline, to below 45.0% by 2006, down from an estimated 51% 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
