Cataluña’s GDP Dropped by 11.5% Last Year

CATALUNA’S GDP dropped by 11.5 per cent last year, it has emerged.

New figures show Cataluña’s GDP feel by 11.5 per cent last year.

According to the Catalan statistics institute, Idescat, the area’s GDP decrease was the biggest drop on record.

However, the Barcelona chamber of commerce said it does expect growth of 6.1 per cent this year.

Among the sectors most affected by the pandemic in Cataluña last year were exports and tourism, with international sales dropping by 10.3 per cent, putting an end to nine years of record time highs, according to data published by Spain’s industry ministry.

Tourism in Cataluña usually accounts for 12 per cent of the local GDP, but saw large drops during the pandemic.

The only sector that avoided a loss was the public administrations’ consumption, which went up by 5.1 per cent last year.

Cataluña’s GDP drop is larger than Spain’s average of 11 per cent and of the European average of 6.3 per cent.

The news comes after experts are said to be confident Spain’s economy will improve later this year.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) said experts believe Spain’s economy will improve this year.

The organisation, which believes there could be GDP growth up to 5.7 per cent this year, said it believes vaccinations will allow restrictions to be lifted and demand to increase.

The OECD said it thinks Spain will recover after its economic downfall last year became the largest in the Euro zone.

Its GDP projections are now in line with those from the European Commission, but are behind those from Spain’s central government, which suggest the country’s GDP will grow by 7.2 per cent this year.

The OECD said: “There are still considerable risks, but rapid progress in the vaccination process will allow the restrictions to be lifted faster and improve the confidence and spending of citizens.”

It warned a slow vaccine rollout might mean, “a weaker recovery, with greater job losses and more commercial failures.”

The body said Spain should now speed up its vaccinations if it wants to continue to improve the country’s economy.

Spain is now expected to be the country with the biggest economic growth this year after France, whose economy is expected to grow by 5.9 per cent.

Germany will stay with a growth of 3 per cent this year, while Italy will grow by 4.1 per cent.

The UK’s economy is also expected to improve later this year.

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