• This was the year. 2019: economic slowdown, stagnation of employment and year lost in deficit reduction

Spain grew less than 2% in the third quarter . The review of the national accounting of the third quarter, which today published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), shows a growth in interannual terms one tenth lower than that offered in the advanced data, so that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only 1.9% rebounded.

The figure is the smallest since 2014 , when the Spanish economy was just beginning to leave behind the hard years of recession, and it shows the remarkable slowdown that is suffering and that is also being noticed in employment. In fact, employment, in terms of full-time equivalent jobs, grew 1.8%, which is also the worst figure since 2014 . "In year-on-year terms, employment shows a growth of 1.8%, seven tenths less than that registered in the previous quarter, which represents an increase of 332,000 full-time equivalent jobs in a year," he explains to the INE.

Statistics data also show that almost all of the growth responds to internal demand , while external growth hardly contributes. "The contribution of national demand to the annual growth of GDP is 1.8 points, six tenths higher than in the second quarter. On the other hand, external demand has a contribution of 0.1 points, seven tenths less than in the previous quarter, "he says.

In quarterly terms, growth remained at 0.4%, which in this case represents the lowest figure in three years and completes an economic context that is significantly worse than estimated by the Government . The Executive has not offered at any time less than 2%, while the Bank of Spain estimates that GDP will grow just those two points and only the European Commission expects Spain to exceed that limit.

Brussels, in particular, estimates that the data at the end of the year will be 1.9%. This was revealed in his last revision, when he lowered his forecast for Spain by up to four tenths, something that the Bank of Spain had already done just weeks before. The reason for this reduction, both organizations agreed, is due to the statistical review that the INE made of the growth of recent years, but also as a result of the worse economic situation inside and outside the country

The CPI ends the year at 0.8%

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.1% in December compared to the previous month and raised its tenth year rate to 0.8%, its highest value since May, according to the leading indicator that has also published on Monday the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With this advance of four tenths, the interannual CPI chains two months of increases, after in November it climbed another three tenths. In this way, the CPI closes 2019 at 0.8%, half of what the pensions generally increased at the beginning of the year (except for the minimum pensions, which rose 3%).

The statistical agency has attributed the rebound in the annual rate of the CPI to the increase in fuel prices, compared to the decrease in prices recorded in December 2018. In the opposite direction, the INE points out that the behavior of the December CPI has influenced the cheaper of electricity.

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