Spain: Money for Manana

Spain's burro-paced economy has started to gallop. Industrial output has nearly doubled in the past five years. By 1975, the country's gross national product is expected to reach $30 billion, almost twice its current $16.6 billion. As one of Europe's potential-growth speedsters, Spain has naturally attracted sizable inflows of foreign capital, which the government has welcomed. But inevitably the main job of financing Spanish business expansion must come from within the country.

Last week two of Spain's Big Five banks planned a merger that would help gear Spanish banking to the heavy demands ahead. It would meld Spain's biggest...