Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 331 Good Economic News

In fact, the growth in the export volume of wine and various agricultural products shows that Spain's economic situation has been getting better and better. It can be said that it is experiencing a relatively prosperous era.

It is also because of this that Spain's per capita income continues to rise, and the living standards and quality of residents are no longer among the lowest in Europe.

The improvement in residents' living standards and quality has significantly increased Spain's attractiveness to immigrants, which has also led to many immigrants and tourists coming to Spain every year.

They may be attracted by the scenery of Spain, or they may see more opportunities to make money in Spain. In short, many people choose to stay in Spain and give up their previous nationality.

The continuous arrival of these people in Spain not only stimulated the population growth in mainland Spain, but also promoted the economic development of Spain.

A few days after listening to Butler Loren's report on the development of royal enterprises, Carlo attended a cabinet government meeting and listened to the cabinet government's report on various government developments in 1885.

Although Spain deployed tens of thousands of troops to launch an attack on the Sokoto Caliphate in 1885, such a small-scale operation had no impact on Spain's economic and industrial production.

According to rough estimates by the Cabinet government, Spain's GDP for the whole of 1885 could reach an exaggerated level of 157 billion pesetas, an increase of about 67% over the previous year.

In an environment of such high economic growth, according to statistics from the people's livelihood department, Spain's per capita annual income has also increased to 212.17 pesetas.

This per capita annual income is calculated taking into account all the elderly and children who cannot produce, which also means that the actual income level of Spain's adult labor force will be even higher.

Take the current Spanish working class as an example. Workers in the two big cities of Madrid and Barcelona have the highest income levels, reaching 287.33 pesetas and 253.57 pesetas respectively.

Because Barcelona's industrial base has many apprentices and low-skilled workers, the income level of workers in Barcelona is lower than that in Madrid.

However, as the technical skills of these workers improve, the income level of Barcelona workers is also increasing. Barcelona itself is a big city, and the income level of these workers is second only to Madrid in the whole of Spain.

It is worth mentioning that under the general environment of Spain's growing per capita income, the salaries of Spanish soldiers are also increasing.

Currently, based on the proportion of military expenditure in the defense sector, it can be calculated that the average annual income of Spanish soldiers is approximately 287.32 pesetas.

Among them, general officers have the highest annual income. The lowest brigadier general has an annual income of 1755 pesetas, and the highest admiral has an annual income of more than 3525 pesetas.

The income of colonels is lower than that of generals, but the number of colonels is much greater than that of generals. It is worth mentioning that the colonels in Spain are more majors and colonels than lieutenant colonels.

Many officers who are not qualified or capable enough to be a brigadier general are forced to stay at the rank of colonel. The reason why there are so many majors is that the first lieutenants and captains who graduated from military academies have achieved promotion in rank after several years or even more than 10 years of military career, relying on certain qualifications and military achievements.

Although these graduates from the Royal Military Academy can quickly get promoted in military rank within a few years after graduation, they can generally be promoted to the rank of major around the age of 30.

But there is a small threshold for the rank of lieutenant colonel, and one must either accumulate sufficient qualifications or make certain achievements to be promoted.

This also resulted in many colonel-level officers without military merit being stuck at the rank of major, and was also the reason why there were more majors and colonels but relatively fewer lieutenant colonels in Spain.

An officer with the rank of colonel can receive an annual income of 1025 pesetas, which is exactly five times the average annual income of the Spanish people.

The income of the lowest-ranking colonel-level officer, major, is relatively low, with a salary of only around 775 pesetas.

As for lieutenants, who are the largest in number, their income is actually several times the average annual income of the Spanish people. The highest-ranking captain can earn 575 pesetas a year, and the lowest-ranking warrant officer can earn 425 pesetas a year.

The income of non-commissioned officers is the lowest among all the ranks of Spanish officers. The annual income of a second-class corporal is only 300 pesetas, and the annual income can increase by about 25 pesetas for each promotion in rank.

In fact, from the standard salary of officers, we can see that even the lowest-ranking second-level corporal earns more than ordinary soldiers.

As long as he could get a promotion in military rank, even if he was stuck at the rank of corporal or private for his entire life, his income would still be much higher than that of an ordinary soldier.

What's more, military officers receive more welfare subsidies, and the combined benefits can increase their income by about 20% to 30%.

This completely widened the income gap between officers and ordinary soldiers, which is also the reason why Spanish military academies are popular.

Whether it is an ordinary military academy that high school graduates can apply for or a training military academy that ordinary soldiers can apply for, they can get promotion in military rank in a short period of time.

For example, if these ordinary high school students apply for military academies, they can at least obtain the rank of lieutenant once they graduate successfully. The New Year salary corresponding to the rank of lieutenant is 525 pesetas, and the actual income after adding various welfare subsidies can even exceed 600 pesetas.

With such an income, how could the soldiers who joined the army not be grateful to Carlo?
You know, the fact that they can have such a high income is inseparable from Carlo's repeated efforts.

In the more than 10 years since Carlo was crowned King of Spain, the income of Spanish army soldiers has increased three times, major and minor.

It is precisely these three increases in soldiers' salaries that have made the Spanish soldier profession a dream career for all Spaniards, and this is also the reason why Spaniards actively sign up to participate when the army is recruiting.

In fact, the number of applicants and admissions each year in Spanish military academies also shows how popular they are.

In 1885 alone, the total number of applicants for the Spanish military academy exceeded 2000. These applicants were those who met the initial admission standards of the military academy, and those who did not meet the standards were not even eligible to apply.

What is the total number of students enrolled in Spanish military academies? Less than 500.

This actually means that among all high school graduates who meet the admission requirements of Spanish military academies, only less than 25% can be admitted to Spanish military academies.

This ratio is enough to prove how fierce the application competition is for Spanish military academies, and how excellent the students admitted to Spanish military academies are.

Of course, the efforts of these high school students to apply for military academies will not be in vain. As long as they can successfully enter the military academy, the guaranteed annual income in the future will be more than two or three times the annual income of ordinary Spanish people. Even if they can only accumulate qualifications, it will be no problem to become a major-level officer in the future. The income of a major is already the sum of the annual income of four ordinary Spaniards. For an ordinary Spanish family, this is definitely an unimaginable amount of wealth.

It is precisely because of the high income of officers that a large number of young Spanish people are attracted to a military career every moment.

Of course, the income levels of all the above officers are estimates of the total income of the Royal Army officers of the Ministry of Defense. There are certain differences in the income of naval officers and Guards officers.

Because of the special nature of the navy, the income of officers is higher than that of army officers. However, because Spain attaches more importance to the army than the navy at that time, the income of naval officers is only about 10% higher than that of army officers.

The income of the officers of the Guards directly commanded by Carlo was almost at the same level as that of naval officers, and the income of all officers of the same rank was about 10% higher than that of army officers.

Because all the salaries of the Guards, from generals to ordinary soldiers, are paid by the royal family, the Guards' welfare benefits are better than those of the ordinary army.

Of course, the Guards were not without their shortcomings. Because the Guards consisted of only one reinforced division, the development prospects of the senior officers of the Guards were lower than those of the senior officers of the Royal Army.

But then again, the earliest batch of local officers trained by Spain were only colonel-level officers, and few of them could reach such a high position as division commander.

For these Spanish military academy graduates, even though the development prospects of Guards officers are lower, they are more willing to serve in the Guards.

In addition to the fact that the salaries and benefits of the Guards are more generous than those of the ordinary army, the Guards are personally loyal to the king they love. After joining the Guards, they become the king's confidants.

Although the Spanish Army is also called the Royal Army, the treatment of the Royal Army and the Guards is very different.

The Guards were first equipped with good weapons and equipment, and the bullet consumption of the Guards soldiers was several times that of ordinary army soldiers.

After all, the Spanish Royal Army has a size of 17.5 people, and such a large number of people results in an astronomical figure for the army's ammunition consumption.

If there is no certain control, the ammunition consumption in daily target training alone will be enough to waste the Ministry of Defense's military budget.

Compared with the Royal Army with a strength of 17.5 people, the Guards Division with only 1.5 people does not have so many troubles.

Although the royal family's wealth is not as great as the government's, not all of the government's money is invested in military expenditures. With only 1.5 guardsmen to take care of, Carlo could even allow the soldiers of the guards to conduct target practice without restraint.

If Carlo was not worried that their bodies would not be able to withstand continuous target practice, he would actually consider having the soldiers of the Guards Division use hundreds of rounds of bullets in each target practice so that everyone could master accurate shooting skills.

Currently, the soldiers of the Guards Division have target practice twice a week, with each person using 25 rounds of ammunition for each training session.

It’s not that Carlo is stingy, it’s mainly because the firearms of this era are different from the fully automatic rifles of later generations, and the firing speed of the breech-loading rifle is very slow.

It would take a Guards soldier about one and a half minutes to fire all 25 bullets.

Considering the damage to the body caused by the recoil of the gun, 25 rounds of bullets per training is a reasonable number. It can not only improve the soldiers' experience in target shooting training, but also prevent them from getting hurt due to frequent shooting.

Of course, time consumption is also an important consideration. The Guards Division has 1.5 people, and these 1.5 people need to conduct target practice twice a week.

How to reasonably arrange all soldiers to conduct target shooting training is an issue that the officers of the Guards need to think about in detail.

Back to the Spanish economy. Due to the substantial increase in GDP, Spain's total fiscal revenue in 1885 reached a new high of 12.021 billion last year.

Even though the total fiscal expenditure was 10.862 billion pesetas, the Spanish government still achieved a fiscal surplus of 1.159 million last year.

However, due to the need to repay debts, the Spanish government's actual surplus was only 0.159 million pesetas, and the 1 million pesetas were all used to repay foreign debts.

After several years of foreign debt repayment, Spain has repaid a little more than half of the debt it owed over the years.

If the Spanish government could take out 1 million pesetas to repay debts every year, it was estimated that around 1890, the Spanish government would be able to pay off all its debts and become truly debt-free.

In fact, for the current Spanish government, if it wants to repay this debt quickly, it only needs to slightly reduce military and fiscal spending, and there is hope of repaying all debts within the next two years.

But there is no need to do so. The remaining debt is not much, and there is no rush. I can just pay it back slowly, 1 million pesetas a year.

Listening to the government's report on financial news, Carlo felt a little emotional for a moment.

The Spanish government's finances at this time were obviously much better than when Carlo had just become King of Spain.

We have to admit that Prime Minister Primo's reforms have made outstanding contributions to Spain. If it were not for Prime Minister Primo's reforms that brought prosperity to all walks of life in Spain, where would Spain get such huge fiscal revenue at this time?

The main reason why Spain's economy can take off so quickly is that various infrastructure projects have stimulated economic growth. The rapid growth of the working population has also led to a continuous increase in Spain's per capita income. People are more willing to spend money, and consumption has once again stimulated economic growth.

This virtuous cycle has enabled Spain's economy to achieve rapid development over the past decade and successfully reach its current excellent level.

Of course, it was also Prime Minister Primo's reforms that liberated Spanish farmers. Even farmers without land have greatly increased their income because of the reduction of land rent.

In addition, Carlo and the Spanish government have put a large amount of farmland on the market over the past decade, and these farmlands have returned to the farmers through leasing or sales.

As Spanish farmers have more and more farmland in their hands, their income is naturally rising.

(End of this chapter)