- In the fourth quarter, employment grew 2.6% year-on-year, which represents the creation of 469,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the last year
- Domestic demand contributed 2.5 points to the annual growth of GDP in the last quarter
The Spanish economy registered a growth of 2.6% in Gross Domestic Product in 2018, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This rate is one tenth higher than the one advanced by the INE previously and coincides with the provisions of the Government in the 2019 State General Budget project.
Published figures show that the Spanish economy continues to grow at rates higher than those of the euro zone, which closed 2018 with a growth of 1.8%, eight tenths less than Spain.
Domestic demand contributes 2.5 points to GDP growth in the fourth quarter, two tenths lower than the previous quarter. By components, gross fixed capital formation maintains an expansive tone, with growth of 4.4%. The final consumption expenditure grows 2%, in an interannual rate, driven by the increase in household consumption up to 2% and the Public Administration spending up to 2.2%.
In an environment of international uncertainty, external demand maintains a contribution similar to that of the previous quarter, placing its contribution to year-on-year growth at -0.2 percentage points. Both imports and exports continue to grow, although rates slow down to 1% and 1.7% respectively, in year-on-year terms.
Job creation maintains its positive progress, with a year-on-year increase of 2.6% in the fourth quarter. This increase has allowed the creation of 469,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2018.
The salary per employee maintains a growth of 1.1% in the fourth quarter at an annual rate, so that the increase in unit labor costs stands at 1.3% 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 10,249 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to data published today by the INE. If seasonal and calendar effects are eliminated, financing capacity stands at 1.6% of GDP, four tenths more than in the previous quarter.
Gross national income reached 322,020 million euros in the fourth quarter, which is 3.9% more than the same period last year. Gross disposable national income reached 318,608 million euros, 3.2% higher than the previous year.
The household savings rate was 4.8% of their disposable income, with corrected series of seasonal and calendar effects, compared to 5% in the previous quarter.
The debt / GDP ratio continues to decline
Once the INE has published the final GDP growth data in 2018 and the Bank of Spain the annual Debt data according to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (PDE) of the Public Administrations for 2018, it can be confirmed that the debt / GDP ratio It has been reduced to 97.16%, one percentage point less than in 2017.
The final figure has been affected by the nominal GDP data published today and a final adjustment in the national accounting debt figure due to the accounting reclassification as PDE debt of operations carried out previously.
This reclassification has, however, been offset by an efficient management of the public treasury, which in 2018 has resulted in a volume of emissions 5.7 billion euros lower than expected and a saving of 1.5 billion interest expense.
