elected Socialist government on Friday announced an 18-billion-euro ($28.5 billion) plan to revive the flagging economy over the next two years. The plan includes cash injections of 10 billion euros this year and around 8.0 billion euros in 2009. It was announced at a news conference by Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega following the first regular meeting of the new cabinet. The Bank of Spain has predicted the economy will grow 2.4 percent in 2008, its lowest rate in over a decade, as the global credit crunch and rising interest rates put the brakes on a decade-long boom led by the housing sector. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had promised to dip in to the country's budget surplus to stimulate the economy. Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said the plan constituted “a first package of measures (to) ... stimulate demand, support the real estate sector.” __
