SPAIN’S economy continued to grow in the first quarter of 2026, but at a slower rate due mainly to the Iran war.
The first three months of the year showed a rise in GDP of 0.6%- higher than expected but still 0.2% down on the same period in 2025.
The preliminary figures were published by the National Statistics Institute(INE) on Thursday.
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Economic growth continues to be higher than that recorded by most countries in the European Union.
The Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, said: “The Spanish economy is maintaining its growth momentum at the start of this year marked by the war in Iran,”
Cuerpo described the GDP growth as ‘solid’ and pointed out that ‘at this rate’, Spain continues to be ‘leading economic growth’ among the main EU economies’.
“Solid growth, has been sustained by two great strengths, firstly, household consumption and also investment by our companies,” he continued.
“In addition, productivity per hour worked rebounded in this first quarter, consolidating an unusual cycle of record job creation and efficiency gains, one of the main signs of modernisation of our economic growth model,” concluded Cuerpo.
Domestic demand was the main economic driver in the first quarter of the year, mainly due to household consumption, which grew by 0.6%.
Business investment- measured by gross fixed capital formation – rebounded by 0.4%, with notable advances in intellectual property products (+0.9% quarter-on-quarter) and in capital goods (+0.5% quarter-on-quarter).
In year-on-year terms, the economy grew by 2.7% compared to the first quarter of last year, which means that it has accelerated its growth rate by 0.1% compared to the last quarter of 2025.
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