Spain continues strong economic growth

Spain's economy has received a welcome boost with news it outperformed many other members of the eurozone by expanding by 3.2 percent in 2024, according to preliminary data from the country's National Statistics Institute.

The Fortune website reports that this contrasts with a prediction from the European Central Bank of 0.8 percent growth in 2024 for the wider eurozone, which is made up of 20 of the 27 member states of the European Union.

France and Germany, the two main economic drivers of the EU, have both lowered their growth outlooks for the year ahead, to 0.9 percent and 0.3 percent respectively, while Italy expects to see growth of 1.2 percent, with all three countries publishing their latest gross domestic product figures on Thursday.

But boosted by the 2024 results, which exceeded the Spanish government's own forecast of 2.7 percent, Spain's Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said the government will raise its forecast for growth in 2025, from the current 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent, with the International Monetary Fund predicting that the economy in Spain will grow faster than other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

"Spain keeps leading the eurozone growth, with a GDP increase four times higher than the eurozone as a whole," said Cuerpo.

The encouraging figures coming out of the EU's fourth-largest economy back up the positive message of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who in a speech to the congress of his Socialist Party last December, said: "Spain is becoming a global reference point for prosperity."

In addition to agriculture and higher-than-expected exports, one of the sectors that has most boosted Spain's economy is the vital tourist industry.

According to figures from the Ministry of Trade and Tourism, quoted by CNN, the country welcomed a record 94 million foreign visitors last year, who spent an estimated $132 billion.

The tourism sector accounts for around 12 percent of jobs in the country, but, ironically, the growth of tourism has also caused one of Spain's main current social and political headaches, which is a housing crisis, with increasing public discontent over the way tourists are seen to be prioritized over locals having led to widespread anti-tourism protests throughout the country.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, unemployment in Spain dropped to its lowest level in 16 years, but the cost-of-living crisis is still having a negative impact, and Natalia Aguirre, head of strategy at investment company Renta 4, told Reuters that a slowdown in private consumption was to be expected.