- Both the Bank of Spain and the Ministry of Economy and Business expect that GDP will grow this year by 2.2% in Spain, above the Community average and the main European countries
- The Minister of Economy and Business highlights that this forecast confirms the "favorable economic situation in Spain"
- The Bank of Spain notes that the Spanish economy maintains a “good pace despite the unfavorable evolution of the external environment” and improves its forecasts of job creation and reduction of the unemployment rate
The Bank of Spain has published its macroeconomic projections of the Spanish economy for the period 2019-2021. According to its forecasts, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by 2.2% in 2019 and 1.9% in 2020: “The good pace of progress of the Spanish economy is maintained despite the unfavorable evolution of the external environment” .
The forecast for 2019 is the same as that maintained by the Government and is in line with those published by all national and international organizations, which predict that Spain will continue to grow above the Community average and the main European economies.
The "remarkable dynamism" of the Spanish economy found by the Bank of Spain has allowed 2018 to close with a growth of 2.5% of GDP. The growth rate recorded in the last quarter, of 0.7%, was the highest of all 2018. The report ensures that “in the medium term, the extension of the current expansionary phase of the Spanish economy is expected”.
The Minister of Economy and Business, Nadia Calviño, stressed that these forecasts confirm the “favorable economic situation in Spain. Our positive growth differential with respect to the main economies of the euro zone was extended in the last part of 2018 and, according to the forecasts of the European Commission, this differential will be further enlarged in 2019 ”.
With regard to the public deficit, the Bank of Spain expects a reduction from 2.7% of GDP in 2018 to 2.5% in 2019. As indicated by the Government, the revenue measures included in the project of General State Budgets for 2019 would have allowed a greater reduction of the deficit and public debt. In any case, the reduction of the deficit achieved in 2018 will allow Spain to exit this spring from the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact.
The macroeconomic projections of the Bank of Spain foresee that the unemployment rate will be 14.2% on average in 2019 and 13.2% in 2020. In both cases, the update of the Bank of Spain represents an improvement of one tenth respect to its forecast for last December. The employment creation forecast also improves by one tenth.
