In the last quarter of the year, there was a positive contribution of the external sector to annual GDP growth of more than 2 pp. In under two years, external financing requirements might have halved. Further, in December last year, the Spanish inflation rate stood at 1.5%, a substantially lower figure. And since then inflation has continued falling and the difference with the euro area countries, now in our favour, has improved to stand at 0.5 pp last month. Nonetheless, such a rapid adjustment of the external deficit and of inflation, centred predominantly as it is on the contraction of demand, activity and employment, entails very high costs. In social terms, the ranks of the unemployed have swollen to around 3.5 million. 2  BIS Review 43/2009  The productive structure is also being affected through the closure of numerous firms, just as the budgetary position is worsening notably under the pressure of more social benefit disbursements and the contractionary effects on revenue due to the fall-off in activity. Uncurbed, all these factors will bear heavily and adversely on our ability to overcome the crisis. Accordingly, all tiers of government and social agents - central, regional and local government, Parliament and the regional assemblies, employers' associations, trade unions, institutions, etc. - should join forces in identifying the measures and action needed to resume as swiftly as possible a sustained growth path, and implement them with the utmost determination and diligence.
For Spanish firms producing final goods and services to be able to compete on an equal footing with other developed countries, it is crucial that those industries providing a large portion of the inputs these branches require should reduce their inefficiencies as far as possible. Among energy utilities, for instance, the degree of vertical and horizontal integration remains very high and interconnections with other countries are not advancing quickly enough. In the telecommunications market, it is vital to step up competition in Internet access in order to reduce the related costs and spread its use. Turning to the transport sector, the National Competition Board has highlighted the presence of numerous restrictions to competition in the area of road haulage licences. In the railway sector a regulator has yet to be created, six years after Parliamentary legislation was passed to this end. Moreover, the boost to railway freight transport that access to new private operators would provide would also help us meet environmental commitments. Also, we must not delay any longer the development of a new airport management model. And let us not forget to harness the magnificent opportunity the EU Services Directive has given us to do away with all national and regional obstacles persisting in the services industry and which are a drag on our growth.