The first vice president and minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, pointed out this Thursday that the growth of Spain's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter will be "positive" and noted that it could even surpass the expansion rate recorded in the first three months of the year, despite the effect of the war in Iran.
During his appearance in the Congress of Deputies to present the new package of measures aimed at mitigating the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East, Cuerpo emphasized that high-frequency indicators show that the pulse of the Spanish economy has remained strong in this second quarter, allowing the country to continue leading growth among the major economies of the European Union.
After a year-on-year increase of 2.7% in the first quarter —and 0.6% in quarter-on-quarter terms—, the head of Economy indicated that the data being released for April, May, and June suggest that the GDP growth in this period "will be a positive figure."
In addition to the solid records of affiliation to Social Security —which in June reached a historic high with 22.2 million employed in seasonally adjusted terms—, Cuerpo recalled that some forecasting models, such as the one published by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), already project that the growth in the second quarter "could even be above that of the first quarter."
"We will see what the final figure is, we will know it next week, but the feeling, the impression, and the data we have from the second quarter anticipate that the pulse of our activity has remained in these months," the minister insisted.
The National Statistics Institute (INE) is expected to publish the advance of the national accounts for the second quarter of the year on July 30. Two days earlier, on July 28, the statistical agency will also announce the Active Population Survey (EPA) corresponding to that same period.