Resumen: The collapse in construction and the housing market, along with the global economic slowdown, Spain saw GDP growth slow to just 0.9 percent in 2008 and shrink by 3.9 percent in 2009, one of the poorest performances in western Europe. Moreover, by early 2010, in the aftermath of financial difficulties in Greece, there were fears in international financial markets that Spain's large public debt -estimated at 11.4 percent of GDP, well above the European Union limit of 3 percent- threatened to send foreign investors in Spanish government securities fleeing, making it harder and costlier for the country to borrow to finance its debt