Understanding the evolution of Spanish exports from a value added perspective
Luís Pinheiro de Matos (Caixabank Research)| The transformation of the Spanish economy in the last decade has been particularly visible in the external sector. It went from losing competitiveness and running ever-increasing deficits between 1997 and 2007 (the current account deficit reached over 9% of GDP) to recovering competitiveness and maintaining a consistently positive foreign balance since 2012 (+1.8% on average over the period 2012-2020). To better understand how this transformation will help the economy after the pandemic, we analyse the trend in exports from a new perspective.