The Spanish economy grew by 2.6% in 2018, above previous estimates, according to figures published by the INE

The Spanish economy registered Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 2.6% in 2018, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (Spanish acronym: INE). This rate is 0.1 points higher than the INE's previous advance forecast and agrees with the Government's projection included in the draft General State Budget for 2019.

The published figures demonstrate that the Spanish economy is continuing to outperform the Eurozone, which closed 2018 with growth of 1.8%, 0.8 points less than the figure for Spain.

Domestic demand contributed 2.5 points to GDP in the fourth quarter, 0.2 points down on the previous quarter. By components, gross fixed capital formation continues to be buoyant, with growth of 4.4%. Final consumption expenditure has grown by 2% year-on-year, boosted by increased household consumption to 2% and a rise in government expenditure to 2.2%.

In an internationally uncertain scenario, foreign demand made a similar contribution as in the previous quarter, with a negative year-on-year impact on growth of 0.2 percentage points. Both imports and exports continue to grow, although the rates have slowed to 1% and 1.7% respectively in year-on-year terms.

Job creation remains positive, with a year-on-year increase of 2.6% in the fourth quarter. As a result, 469,000 full-time equivalent jobs were created in 2018.

Compensation per employee grew by 1.1% in the fourth quarter as a year-on-year rate, meaning that the increase in unit labour costs was 1.3% year-on-year.

Non-financial quarterly accounts of the institutional sectors

INEThe Spanish economy registered a net lending capacity versus the rest of the world of 10.25 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to data published today by the INE. Seasonally adjusted and corrected by the calendar effect, the lending capacity stood at 1.6% of GDP, 0.4 points above the previous quarter.

Gross national income amounted to 322.02 billion euros in the fourth quarter, an increase of 3.9% with respect to the same period the previous year. Gross national disposable income amounted to 318.61 billion euros, 3.2% up on the previous year.

The household saving rate was 4.8% of disposable income, seasonally adjusted and corrected by the calendar effect, compared with 5% the previous quarter.

The debt/GDP ratio continues to decline

Now that the INE has published the definitive GDP growth figures for 2018 and the Bank of Spain the 2018 annual debt data in line with the government Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), it can be confirmed that the debt/GDP ratio has declined to 97.16%, 1 percentage point less than in 2017.

The final figure has been affected by the nominal GDP figures published today and a final adjustment in the national account debt figures due to the accounting reclassification as EDP debt of operations carried out previously.

However, this reclassification has been offset by an efficient management of the Public Treasury, which in 2018 issued a total of 5.7 billion euros in debt, down on forecasts and a saving of 1.5 billion on interest payments.

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