Iona Napier
IT may not have a proper government, but Spain’s economic growth continues to outpace its neighbours.
Spain’s economy is predicted to grow by 2.7% this year, faster than Germany, France and Italy, despite the current political stasis, with tourism on the up after terrorist attacks elsewhere.
GDP expanded by 0.7% in the quarter of 2016, according to the latest data from Spain’s central bank.
“Spain is in a pretty good place,” says Miguel Cardoso, chief economist for Spain at BBVA bank.
“We don’t see a slowdown in the employment data.
“Retail sales are doing well and tourism is doing great. Consumer confidence has fallen a bit but is still near record levels.”
I can believe it because I have seen it for myself. We were in Nerja yesterday and it was very busy for April and Easter was even busier. In general on the CDS, the shops are busier, there are loads more cars and white vans on the roads a noticeable increase in hire cars too. We have noticed a very stark difference from a couple of years ago so Spain has definitely benefitted from the tourist downturn in other countries like Turkey, Greece and Tunisia.
So apart from the wretched property laws that still don’t work (down to the Junta de Andalucia anyway) Spain is managing perfectly well without any government at all.