Catalan short-term economic indicators

The Catalan economy is growing at a significant pace, thanks to the dynamism of domestic demand and the good performance of exports. During the fourth quarter of 2015, GDP saw a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.0% and year-on-year growth of 3.9%, the fastest pace since Q1 2007. As for the entire year 2015, the Catalan economy grew by 3.4%, the highest rate since 2007. In Spain, GDP showed an average growth of 3.2% in 2015, and a year-on-year growth of 3.5% during the fourth quarter.

Domestic demand is consolidating its strong recovery recording a year-on-year growth during the fourth quarter of 2015 (+4.2%) and the whole 2015 (+4.0%). By components within the entire 2015, the most relevant increases of domestic demand are the annual growth in private consumption (+3.6%) and gross capital formation (+5.8%), last one particularly driven by investment in capital goods (+6.4%). Regarding the external balance, the contribution to the GDP variation was slightly negative (-0.1 percentage points).

The Catalan labour market is creating employment at a fast pace and reducing unemployment levels. In March, the number of unemployed registered in employment offices recorded the largest decrease since 1999, at a year-on-year rate of -12.5%. It should be noted that unemployment increased sharply due to the crisis, but registered unemployment is gradually being reduced since 2014 thanks to a strong job creation. After this decline, Catalonia has accumulated 33 consecutive months of falls in registered unemployment on a year-on-year basis. As for the number of Social Security contributors, it grew by 3.3 % year-on-year in February.

The industrial production index is pursuing a sustained pickup and increased by 4.8% year-on-year in January 2016 (adjusted by working days). Consumer goods (+8.7%) and intermediate goods (+5.2%) saw especially high growth. In Spain, the adjusted industrial production index grew by 3.2% year-on-year.

Exports confirm their upward trend after recording 6.1% growth in 2015, compared to 2014. By sectors, the chemical industry (almost a quarter of total exports) grew by 4.4%, motor and transport equipment rose by 10.5% and the food sector increased by 7.3%. It should be noted that Catalan exports accounted in 2015 for 25.5% of total Spanish exports. The European Union is Catalonia’s chief international market. In 2015, exports to the EU accounted for 64.9% of total international exports of goods by the Catalan economy.

Catalan inflation turns negative again in February, and reaches an annual rate of -0.5%, the lowest since September. The highest year-on-year decreases were recorded in the groups of housing expenditure (-5.1%) and transport (-4.5%), both of them heavily affected by energy prices. The highest increase was seen in Other Goods and Services (1.9%).