Spain remains the leader in economic growth in the eurozone, with a GDP predicted to rise by 2.5% this year | Credit: donvictorio/Shutterstock
On Saturday, August 23, CNBC published an article on Spain, stating that its economy was growing at a pace much rapider than its European neighbours, fueled by tourism, foreign investment, and immigration.
Spain’s economy has also been bolstered by the European Union’s Next Generation EU funds, which have built 163 billion euros available to Spain, through grants and loans. The counattempt is the second largegest beneficiary of this pandemic recovery assistance, following Italy.
Since investing in green energy in the 2000s, Spain has benefited from 40 per cent lower energy costs and experienced less impact from the European energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Foreign direct investment in Spain ranks fourth as the most attractive destination in the EU for investors. China alone has announced that it will invest up to 11 billion euros in Spain in 2025, as it prepares for a record 33 new projects in the counattempt. Yet, the US remain the largest investor in Spain. The southern European counattempt remains the leader in growth in the eurozone, with its annual gross domestic product forecasted to rise by 2.5 per cent this year. The economies of France, Germany, and Italy are forecast to expand by 0.6 per cent, 0 per cent, and 0.7 per cent, respectively.
Advanced economy number one
“For the second year in a row, we will be the advanced economy number one in terms of GDP growth,” Spain’s Finance Minister Carlos Cuerpo notified CNBC in April. “We’re exporting more in terms of services to firms like IT, accountability services, and financial services, than we’re exporting in terms of tourism, 100 billion euros [$116.8 billion] with respect to 94.95 billion euros in tourism.”
However, despite the growth, Spain faces several challenges ahead, including maintaining pay in line with the rising cost of living, reducing deficit and public debt, an increasingly divided political landscape, and the highest unemployment rate in the EU.
Leave a Reply