End in sight

THERE are encouraging signs that the Spanish economy will enter 2014 in a much better condition than just 12 months ago. The Spanish economy appears to have turned a corner and official figures yesterday showed that even property prices are on the increase again after years of decline. In the Balearic property prices rose by 2 percent compared to just 0.7 percent nationwide. Once again the Balearics appear to be leading the rest of the  country out of recession. Unemployment still remains a major headache for the government with an estimated 4.5 million without employment. But things are looking much better for Spain and the Balearics and hopefully the lessons of this awful recession have been learnt by the Spanish government and the local authorities. There can be no repeat of the massive spending spree and excessive amounts of borrowing which helped cause the economic recession. Also, the Spanish government must act to avoid yet another property bubble. When it burst four years ago it sent Spain into economic nosedive. This has been a long and hard recession for Spain, probably the worst economic slowdown in recent history. It wasn´t too long ago when people were saying that Spain could join the G8 of industrial powers. But now, four years later,  the economy is much smaller and  Spain has recently been overtaken by Australia as the world´s 12th biggest economy.  But to continue with my upbeat theme Iwould hope that Spain will come out of this recession as a better and more resolute country. Recession has taught Spaniards many lessons.