Its consumer economy Spain It continued its upward trend in the first quarter of 2025, but a massive blackout this week is likely to burden growth.
The increase in Spain’s domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6% from the previous three months between January and March, according to today (29.4.2025). This is slightly short of the progress of 0.7% of the fourth quarter – the same increase as analysts who participated in Bloomberg survey.
At the same time, the rise in consumer prices was unexpected at 2.2% compared to one year before April, exceeding the expectations and the 2% limit set by the European Central Bank. Even more alarming was the rise in underlying inflation (without energy and food), which rose to 2.5% from 2%, surprising economists.
Spain is the country with the best performance between the largest eurozone countries And she saw the International Monetary Fund last week upgrade its prospects for 2025 – as opposed to any other major economy in the world except Russia. The lender sees GDP growth by 2.5% this year. However, yesterday’s (28.4.2025) power outage – which also affected Portugal – will probably burden this prediction.
Bloomberg Economics warned of a possible blow that “approaches 0.5% of quarterly GDP”. He added that part of this would probably be covered as the energy supply would be restored. Early today in Madrid, electricity benefits had returned to almost 100% capacity and the urban trains slowly returned to normal routes.
Spain benefits from a powerful area of services, which transcends postpandedimal tourist boosting. However, its central bank recently raised the question of whether the country can continue to develop significantly faster than its two main commercial partners, France and Germany.
The fourth largest eurozone economy is the first to announce the first quarter GDP, while data from the other large members of the bloc (EU) are scheduled for tomorrow Wednesday (30.4.2025). France will probably extend only 0.1%, while Germany, Italy and the wider eurozone are expected to rise by 0.2%.
Inflation in the area, meanwhile, slows down. The data to be announced on Friday (2.5.2025) are expected to show a 2.1% measurement for the 20 countries block. In the health of the economy, unemployment is at its lowest level of more than 15 years, although on Monday data from the first quarter showed the largest increase for this period since 2013. The unemployment rate is 11.4% – from 12.3% a year ago.
Speaking at an event last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that “the financial framework is very complicated, but when we talk about Spain it is very positive.” Spain “develops and creates jobs as opposed to anyone else in the European Union,” he said.
While the prospects are favorable, Sanchez does not have a majority in parliament and was unable to budget for 2024 or 2025. His recent announcement of a strong increase in defense spending to reach 2% of GDP this year, was treated with both his criticism.