MADRID: The Bank of Spain said that Spain’s economy accelerated in the first three months of 2015 due to higher household spending. Economic output expanded at an estimated 0.8 per cent from the previous quarter, the Bank of Spain said. It projected growth of 2.8pc for 2015 as a whole, up from the 2pc it forecast in December.
Spain’s economic turnaround has gathered pace in recent months after a deep recession that ended in mid-2013, though sky high employment – with nearly one in four of the workforce out of a job – continues to cloud the picture.”Several factors have come together, such as the depreciation of the euro, quantitative easing (in the euro zone), the fall in oil prices, which came just as the Spanish economy was starting to grow again,” said Victor Echevarria, economics analyst at Madrid-based financial consultancy.
The European Central Bank launched its stimulus plan earlier this month, buying government bonds in a bid to ward off the threat of deflation and boost the economy.Spain’s economy expanded by 0.7pc in the fourth quarter of last year from the third, according to official data.