Under the Felipe Gonzalez government, the minister of economy, finance, and commerce served as "superminister" and chief government spokesman with the responsibility of advising the prime minister on economic and financial policies. The Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Commerce formulated general economic policies prepared the budget audited the state's accounts supervised expenditures managed the public debt supervised the banks, insurance companies, and stock exchanges and collected taxes. It therefore had a major role in the conduct of both fiscal and monetary policy. It was also responsible for all matters concerned with publicly owned properties involved in industrial, agricultural, and commercial ventures, including supervision of those under the day-to-day management of other ministries.

Other ministries having primarily economic functions included the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food the Ministry of Transportation, Tourism, and Communications the Ministry of Industry and Energy the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Public Works and City Planning. There was also an interministerial Economic Affairs Committee (Comision de Asuntos Economicos), which consisted of the heads of economically important ministries and the undersecretary of state for the economy.

Data as of December 1988