The Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, Luis de Guindos, stressed yesterday during the celebration of the events for the XXV anniversary of the consulting firm ATKearney in Spain that "the recovery of the Spanish economy is underway", after having corrected the accumulated imbalances during economic expansion. Economic growth is accelerating, towards annual rates "close to 1.5%", he explained. In his opinion, this improvement is due to the fact that Spain is today a competitive economy and that doubts about the future of the euro have completely dissipated, a process in which the implementation of the Banking Union has been key.
De Guindos stressed that four quarters of growth are already accumulating and that this will be the first year that GDP will register a positive annual rate since the crisis began. According to the leading indicators and the estimates of the Ministry of Economy, the growth rate in the second quarter of the year will be greater than that of the first. He pointed out that this improvement is due to a recovery in domestic demand, both in household consumption and investment in capital goods, and greater availability of new credit. Regarding the labor market, he stressed that the economy is already generating net employment and that, thanks to structural reforms, Spain achieves this with lower growth rates than in the past.
Despite these improvements, he noted that "there are important challenges ahead." He noted that "it is important to continue with fiscal consolidation." He also highlighted that the Government continues to work on reforms such as fiscal, which aims to "establish medium and long-term incentives for the growth of the economy"; incentives related to savings, work and investment. He concluded that "Spain is a great country, with the capacity to innovate and compete abroad, so it has a promising future."
