Barcelona Economic growth in Spain has exceeded even the government’s expectations and has placed the State as the country that grew the most in 2023 among the European Union’s largest. So, the gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures economic activity) of Spain grew by an average of 2.5% last year, according to data published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which confirm those already advanced in January.
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This figure is a tenth above the initial forecast of the State government, which had planned to close the year with 2.4% growth and is five times the growth average of the countries of the Eurozone, which to be 0.5%, according to official data from Eurostat, the Community statistics agency. In fact, the German economy, the largest in the European Union, closed 2023 with a negative growth of -0.2%, while the GDP of France and Italy increased, respectively, by 0.9% and 0.6%.
Domestic demand explains the strong growth, which takes place in a complicated context still marked by inflation – although in 2023 price growth moderated -, the uncertainty caused by the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, the slowdown in the Chinese economy and interest rate hikes approved by most central banks, including the European Central Bank. Specifically, Spanish domestic demand represented 1.7 points of the total of 2.5 points of growth registered last year. This data includes all consumption and investments – both from the public sector and from families and companies – while the foreign sector – exports and imports of goods and services, which include the arrival of tourists – contributed the remaining 0.8 points .
Bon quart quarter
The figures published this Tuesday by the INE also include the growth figures in Spain for the last three months of last year. GDP increased by 2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 and by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter.
Consumption by public administrations – driven by European funds and because at the end of the year is when a greater level of program execution accumulates – increased by 1% between October and December, while household consumption it did so at lower levels of 0.2%. In addition, gross capital formation (investment) registered a good figure, with an upward variation of 0.6% compared to the third quarter, despite the high level of interest rates, which represent a difficulty added for families and companies to access credit, a necessary tool to finance investments such as the purchase of a home or new business projects.
Finally, imports increased by 2.5% quarter-on-quarter and exports by 2.7%.
By sector, industry led the growth with an increase in activity of 2.3% in one quarter, while construction increased by 1.2%. On the other hand, services remained almost flat, with an increase of 0.1%, while activity in the primary sector grew the most, with 5.3%.
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2024-03-26 08:04:33
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