OREANDA-NEWS. BMI View: Growth in the Spanish pharmaceutical market will remain slow but steady, despite being an economic outperformer in Western Europe. The ageing population of Spain, and the wider Europe region, will create significant revenue earning opportunities for drugmakers. However, as populations age, the effective economic old-age dependency ratio is also projected to rise sharply. This will place pressures on government budgets and the funds available for welfare spending, including expenditure on pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Headline Expenditure Projections

-  Pharmaceuticals: EUR25.18bn (USD27.93bn) in 2015 to EUR25.62bn (USD27.42bn) in 2016; +1.7% in local currency terms and -1.8% in US dollar terms. Forecast in line with last quarter.

-  Healthcare: EUR93.98bn (USD104.23bn) in 2015 to EUR95.18bn (USD101.84bn) in 2016; +1.3% in local currency terms and -2.3% in US dollar terms. Forecast revised upwards slightly from last quarter.