Despite 11 quarters of positive interest rates, these data confirm a slight slowdown in the Basque economy. Between January and March, employment increased by 1.5% compared to the first quarter of 2022.
The economy of the Basque Autonomous Community grew by 2.3% in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, one-tenth more than expected and 0.5% compared to the last quarter of 2022, with in those eleven consecutive quarters, according to the final data of the Basque Statistical Institute-Eustat, positive quarterly figures have accumulated.
As for employment, between January and March it grew by 1.5% compared to the first quarter of 2022 and by 0.3% compared to the three previous months, the same rates that were pushed forward a month and a half ago.
These data confirm a slight year-on-year slowdown in economic activity compared to the growth of previous quarters and also in terms of GDP growth in 2022 as a whole, which was estimated at 4.4%. The estimated changes in employment, on the other hand, remain unchanged.
The annual growth of the Basque Country’s GDP is above estimates for both the European Union (1.2%), the Eurozone (1.3%) and the United States (1.6%). For the Spanish economy, the quarterly growth estimate is equal to the Basque average, 0.5%, and on the other hand higher in the year-on-year comparison (3.8%).
Evolution of GDP by area
Álava showed annual growth of 2.5%, Gipuzkoa 2.4% and Bizkaia 2.2%. Relative to the last quarter of 2022, Álava’s GDP is also the best performing, with a growth of 1.0%. In Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, quarter-on-quarter growth was 0.5% and 0.4% respectively.
Source: EITB
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