The European Commission improves the growth forecast for Spain to 1.9% in 2023

The European Commission has released its growth forecast for the Spanish economy to 1.9% by 2023 and will remain at 2% in 2024. Of the major eurozone economies, Spain will grow the most this year, ahead of the Netherlands (1.8%), Italy (1.2%) and France (0.7%).

Similarly, Spain has lowered its estimate of inflation to 4%, four-tenths less than expected in their latest projections, while the reduction forecast is up three-tenths, to 2.7% for 2024.

This figure is also below the Community inflation forecast, which is expected to rise to 6.7% over the course of the year European Union (EU) for 2023 –compared to the previous forecast of 6.4%– and to 3.1% in 2024, also three-tenths lower than February’s forecasts.

The growth forecast in the winter 2023 forecasts, of 1% in the EU and 1.1% in the eurozoneis in both cases two tenths higher than the winter forecasts, while the growth rate for 2024 also increases by one tenth, reaching 1.7% and 1.6% for the EU and the euro area respectively.

The Community authorities warn that underlying inflation will remain “high” in the coming years. Specifically, it expects to remain above the nominal rate this year and next, at 6.1% and 3.2% respectively.

The Spanish government’s Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation has assessed the European Commission’s forecasts and has emphasized that Spain will lead the growth of the eurozone’s major economies for the third consecutive year. He also stressed that employment growth in 2023 and 2024 will be stronger than the eurozone average.