(Reuters) – Spain’s economy outperformed other major euro zone countries in 2024, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday, confirming a contrast with euro zone peers.
Spain’s gross domestic product grew 3.2% in 2024, a much faster rate than France and Italy’s close-to-1% expansion and Germany’s economic contraction of 0.2%.
Spanish growth sped up in 2024 from 2.7% in 2023, led by sectors related to tourism such as transportation, hotels and retail, as well as manufacturing and agriculture, INE’s quarterly report said.
In the fourth quarter, Spain’s economy grew 0.8% from the previous quarter, INE said, confirming the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters and preliminary data.
On an annual basis, Spain’s fourth-quarter economic output expanded 3.4%, INE said, revising the growth from a preliminary 3.5%. The data was also below the 3.5% expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
The Bank of Spain said earlier in March that it expected the country’s economy to expand by a still strong 2.7% in 2025, thanks to soaring private consumption.
Growth in the euro zone’s large economies are all expected to be considerably less, with the biggest economy Germany forecast to expand 0.2% this year and Italy and France seen expanding 0.7%.
(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by Inti Landauro and Bernadette Baum)
