From the 1960s, the Catalan economy and society went through a period of intense change. With the promulgation of the Stabilisation Plan (a plan to cut inflation and reduce the balance of payments) in July 1959, the régime abandoned the despotic interventionist approach that it had maintained since 1939. The liberalisation of trade and foreign investment and the re-establishment of the free currency market took place at a time of expansion in the European economy. Catalonia went through unprecedented economic growth. The consolidation of industrial diversification turned Catalan industry into the principal provider of goods for the Spanish market. This expansion took place without any type of urban planning nor the slightest degree of democratic control over the economy. Urban chaos and the lack of a basic infrastructure were common in the large cities and the tourist areas on the coast.