Outlook fair for Spain’s economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the eurozone economies to grow overall by just 0.9 per cent in 2024.

Although more than 2023’s 0.5 per cent growth,  this is still three-tenths of a percentage point below the IMF’s October 1.2 per cent growth forecast for 2024.

The Washington-headquartered IMF also reduced its forecast for Spain, whose economy it expects to grow by 1.5 per cent, two-tenths below its original prediction.

This is better than the 0.5 per cent growth foreseen for Germany, or Italy (0.7 per cent), Netherlands (0.7 per cent) or France (1 per cent) but below the 2 per cent that the Spanish government announced for 2024.

The IMF’s 2.1 per cent growth for Spain in 2025 remained unchanged.

The Fund’s chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said that inflation should ease worldwide from 6.8 per cent in 2023 to 5.8 per cent this year, before falling to 4.4 per cent in 2025.

In the most advanced economies, the agency expects inflation to drop in 2024 to 2.6 per cent and to the 2 per cent that the Federal Reserve and some central banks have set as their 2025 target.