• The strength of national demand is maintained, with a contribution of 2.8 points to the annual growth of GDP
  • Employment grows at 2.5% year-on-year, which means the creation of 450,000 full-time jobs in a year

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a 0.6% growth in the third quarter of the year, according to the National Accounting data published today by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This rate is identical to that recorded in the first two quarters of the year.

In year-on-year terms, the Spanish economy grew 2.4% in the third quarter. The INE confirms the maintenance of the real and nominal growth of the Spanish economy, in an environment of international uncertainties. The growth differential continues to be favorable to Spain compared to the euro zone, with the quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year rates of the GDP of the euro zone at 0.2% and 1.6%, respectively.

The strength of national demand is maintained, with a contribution of 2.8 percentage points to the annual growth of GDP, slightly lower than the previous quarter. By components, gross fixed capital formation maintains the expansive tone with a growth of 5.5%, and a balanced contribution of all its components. Household consumption maintains its interannual growth rate at 2.1% and that of Public Administration spending increases slightly to 2.1%.

Net external demand improves its behavior, placing its contribution to year-on-year growth at -0.4 percentage points, two tenths higher than the previous quarter. This is due to a slowdown in exports (1 point, up to 1.3% year-on-year), lower than that of imports (2.1 points, up to 2.5%)

The good pace in the creation of employment is maintained, with a growth of 0.7% quarter-on-quarter. This positive tone has allowed the interannual increase rate to remain at 2.5%, which means the creation of 450,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the last year. Salary compensation increases 1.1% year-on-year, three tenths more than in the previous quarter, so unit labor costs accelerated four tenths, up to 1.2% year-on-year.

Quarterly non-financial accounts of the institutional sectors

The Spanish economy registered a financing capacity against the rest of the world of 3,427 million euros in the third quarter of 2018, according to data published today by the INE. If seasonal and calendar effects are eliminated, financing capacity stands at 0.9% of GDP.

Gross national income reaches 295,928 million euros in the third quarter, representing an increase of 3.6% over the same period last year. Gross disposable national income stands at 292,465 million euros, also 3.6% higher than a year earlier.

The household savings rate stands at 5.2% of its gross disposable income, with corrected series of seasonal and calendar effects, compared to 5% in the previous quarter.



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