The Popular Party (PP) has an absolute majority and is expected to serve its full four-year term ending in late 2015. Threats to political stability have increased during 2014, on at least three fronts. First, the traditional dominance of the PP and its main rival, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), is being swiftly eroded by disaffected voters. Second, increasingly assertive moves towards secession in the region of Catalonia threaten a period of constitutional upheaval. Third, although the economy's recovery has been significant, many weaknesses remain and Spain would be vulnerable if current softness in the euro zone economy were to turn into a sharp downturn. This would have swift political effects among Spain's austerity-weary electorate.

Country forecast overview 6

Highlights 6

Business environment rankings 7

Fact sheet 8

Outlook for 2015-19 9

Political outlook 9

Economic policy outlook 10

Economic forecast 12

Data summary 14

Data sources and definitions 19

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