In Spain, the inflation rate rose significantly at the beginning of the year.
Spain's economy continued to grow despite high new infections in the corona crisis. After a strong recovery in the summer months, the fourth largest economy in the euro zone was only able to grow slightly at the end of 2020. In the fourth quarter, the gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.4 percent in a quarterly comparison, said the national statistics office INE on Friday in Madrid after an initial estimate.
In the third quarter, Spanish economic output was able to recover strongly from the Corona slump in spring and grew by 16.4 percent. Analysts were surprised by the development. You had expected an economic setback for the end of 2020. On average, they had assumed a quarter-on-quarter decline in economic output of 1.4 percent for the months from October to December.
The annual comparison shows how badly the Spanish economy was hit by the Corona slump in spring. In the three months to December, economic output fell by 9.1 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. From this perspective, the decline was roughly the same as in the third quarter.
The inflation rate, also reported on Friday, rose significantly in Spain at the beginning of the year. The rate of inflation (HICP) calculated according to European standards rose from minus 0.6 percent in December to plus 0.6 percent in January, according to the INE statistics office. Analysts had expected an average rate of minus 0.6 percent.
