GDP grew by 5.5% in 2022 despite the economy’s sudden recession at the last stage of the year.
the The Spanish economy grew in 2022 AD 5.5%Progress was already made two months ago, at the same rate as in 2021 even as Covid subtracted several tenths from the growth of the economic recovery. This figure is characterized by a last-minute statistical revision that added almost one point to the economic growth of the past year and the context of the recovery of activity lost during the pandemic in which it was framed, and it conceals the sudden recession that the Spanish economy suffered in the second half of 2022, also as a result of other phenomena not Less dangerous: the war in Ukraine and the energy “shock” that followed it.
National accounts data that measures the evolution of gross domestic product has become a reality The roller coaster since the pandemic changed the biorhythm of the economy in March 2020 worldwide. The 2022 photo released by the National Institute of Statistics on Friday is proof of that. A first quarter with intense economic activity and strong job creation, and a cool second half of the year that saw the economy increase quarter-on-quarter by 0.2% and job creation slowed.
And the statistics confirmed that, contrary to the expectations of analysts who expected a loss in economic activity, the Spanish economy returned to progress by 0.2% between October and December compared to the previous quarter. It did so in the midst of a general decline in household consumption (-1.8%), investment (-3.7%), imports (-4.2%), exports (-1, 1%) and even hours worked (-0.1%), i.e. Under normal circumstances it would have caused the economy to lose value. If not, that is because public spending grew by 1.9% and spending by economic agents other than households also increased by 0.7% in a phenomenon that could be related to the acceleration in the implementation of European funds.
Recovery is losing momentum
However, the rush of public spending did not cover the tangible loss of speed of Spain’s economic recovery. According to data released on Friday from the National Institute of Statistics, the annual growth rate of the Spanish economy was 2.6% at the end of the year, a tenth less than the data advanced at the end of January and more than two years ago. A point less than that recorded in the third quarter (4.7%).
In the past two years, the Spanish economy has grown by 10%, recouping much of the GDP lost during the pandemic, 11.3%, but not all of it, which marks us as The only country in the European Union that has not yet been able to cross that borderwhich, according to analysts’ estimates, will not be exceeded until the end of 2023. At current prices, the GDP in 2022 amounted to 1.327108 million euros, an increase of 10% over 2021.
On an interannual basis, GDP grew by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, which is 2.1 points lower than the previous quarter (4.7%), primarily due to a lower contribution from domestic demand.
Specifically, the contribution of national demand to GDP growth on an annual basis was 0.9 points, which is 1.9 points less than in the third quarter of 2022, while external demand contributed 1.7 points, which is two-tenths less.
Household consumption moderated its year-on-year growth by more than 2 points in the fourth quarter, to 2.7%, while public spending increased 2.3% after four negative quarters. On the other hand, investment slowed its growth by about 4 points, to 2.6%.
In the last period of 2022, the gross domestic product grew by 0.2%, as in the third quarter. With this data, seven consecutive quarters of positive rates have been compiled.
Household consumption decreased by 1.8% between October and December (+1.8% in the previous quarter), marking its first quarterly decline since the first quarter of 2021.
In parallel with the slowdown in household consumption, public spending accelerated its quarterly growth by three-tenths, to 1.9%, in contrast to investment, which contracted by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, its largest quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2020, when the pandemic began. .
