Spain: economic stimulus plan to create jobs

Thu Nov 27, 2008 11:05 AM EST

MADRID — Spain's prime minister has announced an euro11 billion ($14 billion) stimulus plan to revive the country's flagging economy.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says the package will feature major spending on public works and other projects to create jobs and offset an 11.3 percent unemployment rate, the EU's highest.

Zapatero told Parliament Thursday he believes the package can create 300,000 jobs by the end of next year.

Part of the package will aim to help Spain's auto industry, which accounts for 20 percent of Spanish exports and has been hard hit by the economic crisis.

Spain's once-buoyant economy is in a sharp downturn because of a crash in the construction sector. Spanish GDP shank 0.2 percent in the third quarter, the first such decline in 15 years.