The ratings reflect the Kingdom of Spain's strong fiscal position, which has been supported by expenditure control, declining interest payments, and healthy revenues. Nevertheless, we expect the general government surplus of recent years to moderate in the medium term as buoyant revenue growth weakens along with the economy. At the same time, social security surpluses, and the largely balanced position of Spanish local and regional governments, will support public finances. Moreover, the debt-to-GDP ratio is likely to continue its downward trend toward 30%, declining by more than 25 percentage points between 2000 and 2010. Spain's real GDP growth has outperformed that of the 'AAA' median by an average 0.6 percentage points per year during the past decade. However, the slowdown
