A new government

Spain functions better without a government! As we all know, for almost six months Spain hasn't had a proper government, following the stalemate at the general elections in December. Meanwhile, economic growth has continued to go from strength to strength; output grew 0.8 per cent in the January to March period, the same quarterly expansion as that registered in the previous quarter. The previous administration of Mariano Rajoy is running a caretaker government until the political turmoil is finally resolved with a new general election in June. But it appears that for the Spanish economy to keep growing a government is not needed! There had been fears that the political uncertainty would dent economic growth and could send the country back into recession. But this is not the case at all. The administration of Mariano Rajoy used his economic track record during the election campaign but while his Partido Popular was the most voted party it failed to secure an overall majority which led to the stalemate. The change in Spain's fortunes is visibly noticeable, even around Palma. People do have more money to spend and the days of the hard recession now appear to be a distant memory. But it appears that the government can take little credit for the economic revival. Spain should have a government in place just after the summer, even though the general election takes place in June. By that time the economy could be on a real high.