Spain’s GDP gained 5.5% in 2022

Spain’s economy has grown faster than expected in 2022, with GDP rising by 5.5%. According to official data released on Friday, Spain’s GDP grew by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter, and by 2.7% compared to the same quarter in 2021. This growth is a positive sign for the country, which avoided falling into a recession in the final quarter of the year despite fears of a global slowdown.

Public spending played a key role in driving the economy in the final quarter of the year, compensating for a contraction in private consumption. This allowed Spain to achieve a seventh consecutive quarter of growth, beating both the original official forecast for the year, which was 4.5%, and the 5% anticipated by the Prime Minister in late 2022.

However, the Spanish economy is expected to slow down in 2023, with GDP growth forecasted at 2.1%. Unemployment data released on Thursday also showed an increase in the jobless rate in the last three months of 2022, as employers anticipated a slowdown. Additionally, exports, which were one of the driving forces of the Spanish economy in 2022, came to a halt in the fourth quarter as the global economy slowed.

It is worth noting that the Spanish economy shrunk 11.3% in 2020 due to the pandemic, and the country has not yet fully recovered to pre-Covid levels. However, the country has already received 31 billion euros ($33.69 billion) of European recovery funds, which started to flow into the economy in the last quarter of 2022.