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Economic Overview
Despite of the tendency of moving the production centers to industrial parks located in the outskirts of the metropolitan area, the city of Madrid remains as the second most important industrial center in the country, only exceeded by Barcelona. During this period, Madrid experienced a very significant growth in its tertiary activities. In this sense, the importance of the Barajas Airport for the city's economy is remarkable, adding to the administrative and financial functions associated with being the capital of Spain. Construction (housing and public works such as the ring structure of roads and trains system) has constituted a major pillar of the economy up to 2006. Nevertheless, Madrid, like the rest of the country, is lagging behind the rest of Europe in the introduction of new technologies.[9] In addition, inflation in Spain far above European average over this period has made Madrid and the rest of the country lose competitivity.

Nevertherless, regarding the city's Economic environment, it has also been stated that despite the growth of the economy of the country as a whole has been moderated compared to the last two quarters, the economy of the Autonomous Region of Madrid continued to grow in the second quarter of the year, above the rate for Spain as a whole, and for the EMU, reaching a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. The growth outlook for the city of Madrid points to a year-on-year increase of 4.0% in 2006[10] which makes Madrid one of the most dynamic and thriving cities in the European Union.[11]


Major Commercial Areas
Paseo de la Castellana:
A busy commercial area, Here you'll find Real Madrid's football stadium, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, and more banks.

AZCA / Nuevos Ministerios
Azca is the financial district. The area is populated by skyscrapers, among them Torre Picasso–157 metres (515 ft), Edificio BBVA–107 metres (351 ft) and Torre Europa–115 metres (377 ft). Torre Windsor, one of the skyscrapers in this area, burnt entirely on the night between 12th and 13th of February, 2005 [1]. A very large (3 interconnected buildings) El Corte Inglés department store is also here. The area is directly linked to Barajas Airport by metro line 8 from Nuevos Ministerios station.

(Cuatro Torres Business Arena)
The CTBA is the new financial district of Madrid, the area will be composed by four skyscrapers. The tallest of them is the Repsol tower (250 m/820 ft), designed by Sir Norman Foster. When they finish the construction of the building, it will be the tallest skyscraper in Spain and the 3rd in Europe. The second tallest skyscraper,'Crystal Tower', is only 0.6 metres (2 ft) lower than Repsol tower, with 249.4 metres (818.2 ft), it will be the 4th tallest skyscraper of Europe. This building has being designed by Cesar Pelli. The third tallest skyscraper is the 'Sacyr-Vallehermoso' tower with 235 metres (771 ft) and designed by Enrique Alvarez & Carlos Rubio. This building will have a 5 stars hotel in the first 31 floors and will be the 5th tallest tower in Europe. Finally, the fourth building will be 'Espacio tower'. It is 223 metres (732 ft) long and it is designed by I.M. Pei. The four skyscrapers will be finished during 2008. [2]Currently, the tallest tower is the 'Espacio Tower' because it is more advanced in construction than the other three towers.