The Spanish economy maintained its acceleration in the first quarter of the year, even higher than initial estimates. The National Statistics Institute (INE) raised growth in the first quarter of the year by a tenth compared to the previous quarter to 0.8%. The new INE estimates published yesterday are also a tenth higher than those recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023, confirming the accelerating growth of the Spanish economy, which in the first part of 2024 received a strong boost from tourism and a positive contribution from investment.
Foreign tourist spending (which grew by 17.4% at a quarterly rate), Spanish households’ domestic consumption (+1.3%) and fixed capital investment (+2.6%) were, in this ranking, the factors that contributed most to the ranking. to GDP growth in the first part of the year, according to data updated by the National Institute of Statistics after integrating the latest sources of economic information.
The 0.8% quarterly advance is the largest in almost two years and puts year-on-year growth (compared to Q1 2023) at 2.5%, compared to 2.1% in the previous quarter. Domestic demand contributed 2.3 points and foreign demand contributed 0.2 points. The annual rate of 2.5% is the same as the rate recorded on average for all of last year, despite initial expectations of a slowdown in 2024.
Hours worked varied by 1.3% year-on-year and employment by employment by 3.4% (compared to 2.3% and 3.9% in the previous quarter). “We are continuing the series of good news in the economy,” Economy Minister Carlos Cuerbo said in a video released after learning of the revised data from the National Institute of Statistics.
“Infuriatingly humble social media buff. Twitter advocate. Writer. Internet nerd.”
