Spanish Economy Grows By 0.6 Percent Beating Expectations
Spain News
Published: 30 July 2014 12:00 CET
Updated: 20 December 2019 13:00 CET
Spain's National Statistics Institute announced on Wednesday that the Euro zone's fourth-largest economy grew by 0.6 percent in the second quarter, exceeding the Bank of Spain's forecast.
The Spanish economy has grown again by 0.6 percent in the second quarter of the year according to the INE (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica) and represents the fastest rate of growth since 2007.
This comes as a surprise to many financial analysts and the Bank of Spain itself who were only predicting gains of 0.5 percent.
This puts the economic growth for 2014 at 1.2 percent, close to the forecast of 1.5 percent for the year. For 2015 it is thought that growth should increase further and touch the 2 percent mark.
The improved GDP numbers are thought to have come mainly from domestic demand, specifically from a buoyant retail sector which rose by 0.2 percent and which has now registered three consecutive months of growth.
Currently struggling with unemployment figures of around 25 percent, this comes as much welcome news for the Spanish economy which has been in the grip of austerity since the economic crash of 2007.
