IMF issues caution over Spain’s economic growth

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a cautionary warning over Spain’s recovering economy, saying growth, which should hit 3.1 per cent by the end of 2015, is likely to slow down over the coming years.
In its latest report, the IMF says it expects to see a rate of growth of 2.5 per cent in 2016, a prediction which is still higher than the average for the EU, getting more sluggish before the end of the decade. The organisation forecasts a growth rate of 1.8 per cent by 2020.
The report applauds the austerity measures brought in by Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) government, which it terms “strong policy implementation.” However, the authors raise concerns that more than five million people remain out of work, while many of the new jobs created, which have seen unemployment dropping in the last year, are either part-time or temporary contracts.