Catalan short-term economic indicators

The Catalan economy is growing at a dynamic pace. During the third quarter of 2015, GDP saw a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.9% and year-on-year growth accelerating to 3,7%, the fastest pace since Q1 2007. In Spain GDP shows a similar evolution to that of Catalonia, with a year-on-year growth of 3.4% in the third quarter of 2015. The Catalan economy is surging forward at a stronger pace than the average of the euro area, which has seen 1.6% year-on-year growth during the third quarter.

Domestic demand is consolidating its recovery with a strong 4.0% year-on-year growth during the third quarter of 2015. The contribution of the domestic demand to growth of GDP was 3.5 percentage points. By components, the most notable is the annual growth in private consumption (3.6%) and gross capital formation (7.2%). Regarding the external balance, total exports (goods and services) increased by 6.7%, and total imports by 9.2%.

The Catalan labour market is creating employment at a fast pace. In November, the number of Social Security contributors grew quickly, at a year-on-year rate of 3.3%, with increases across all the major economic activities. It should be noted that the unemployment rate increased sharply due to the crisis (it reached maximum values in 2013), but thanks to the strong job creation it is gradually being reduced: during the third quarter of 2015, unemployment rate decreased to 17.5%

The industrial production index continues its sustained pickup and increased by a year-on-year 4.8% in October 2015 (adjusted by working days). Equipment goods (+10.8%) and consumer goods (+4.5%) saw especially high growth. In Spain, the adjusted industrial production index grew by a year-on-year 4.1%.

Exports confirm their upward trend after recording 6.3% growth during the first nine months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year. In particular, exports in September rose by a year-on-year 6.5%, driven by the sales in the automotive and chemicals sectors. It should be noted that Catalan exports accounted in 2014 for 25.1% of total Spanish exports. The European Union is Catalonia's chief international market. Exports to the EU accounted in 2014 for 64.7% of total international exports of goods by the Catalan economy.

Catalan inflation turns positive, after three months with negative values, but remains very low: in November it was a year-on-year 0%. The highest year-on-year decreases were recorded in the group of transports (-4.7%) and housing expenditure (-1.8%), both of them heavily affected by low oil prices. The highest increase was seen in Food and non-alcoholic beverages (2%).