Dilip Kuner
SPAIN’S economy is in danger of lagging behind the main advanced economies in Europe in recovering from the coronavirus crisis.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the Spanish economic position worsened last month while other Eurozone countries saw a strengthening of their position.
The organisation’s Composite Leading Indicators Index (CLI) which forecasts economic activity in the next six to nine months, gave Spain a score of 93.72 points, down from 94.31 in June.
By contrast the average for developed countries strengthened from 97.04 to 97.98 points over the same timescale.
An OECD spokesman said: “The CLI for Spain points to tentative signs of a slowdown.”
In June, the organisation had warned that the Spanish economy was the one most threatened by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated contraction of GDP in 2020 of between 11.1% and 14.4%, depending on whether or not there is a resurgence of the virus.
The CLI index in the United States rose to 97.44 points from 95.99 the previous month, although it is still 1.74 points below the reading for July 2019, but shows a ‘continued strengthening’ of the economy.
This improvement in the economic outlook for the US is shared by most of the large OECD economies, including the euro area, whose CLI index has improved to 97.29 points from 96.68 the previous month, although still 2.39 points below the level of a year earlier.
