Spain: Stable growth rate – ING

According to Steven Trypsteen, Economist at ING, the Spanish figures are good, with the economy growing at 0.6% QoQ (2.5% YoY) in the third quarter, the same pace as in the second.

Key Quotes

“Given Tuesday’s figures from the Eurozone as a whole, things didn’t seem to be boding well for Spain. The Eurozone economy slowed to a growth rate of 0.2% QoQ in the third quarter from 0.4% in the previous one, and with Spain being the fourth largest economy in the Eurozone, this could have implied much slower growth in Spain given a weaker external environment, as the Eurozone is the largest export destination for the country.”

“On top of that, survey indicators in the third quarter continued their downward trend; the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) has notably dropped quite sharply in recent months.”

“We forecast an annual growth rate of 2.6% in 2018 and 2.0% in 2019, a clear deceleration of economic activity given the more than 3% growth since 2015.”