Calviño predicts that GDP growth accelerated in the second quarter driven by tourism

July 7. () –

The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and for Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has again ruled out a recession scenario for Spain and has ventured that growth in the second quarter of the year, whose data will be advanced by the National Institute of Statistics ( INE) at the end of this month, “has accelerated” compared to the first quarter, when the economy grew by 0.2% quarterly and 6.3% year-on-year.

Calviño, in statements to Onda Cero reported by Europa Press, recalled that the first quarter was affected by the start of the war in Ukraine and by the transport strike and, even so, growth in the first part of the year “has been very strong”, with an interannual rate in the first three months of the year of over 6%.

“In the second quarter, growth has accelerated. The tourist campaign is being a record, it is at a level very close to that of 2019, and the forecasts for the second half of the year are of a very intense growth, of more than 4%” , has underlined the vice president.

Calviño has pointed out that the “most powerful” indicator to assess how the situation is is that of the labor market, which shows record levels in affiliation to Social Security, with 20.4 million employed, and minimum unemployment in 14 years.

The vice president has urged the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to behave like a “leader” and “put his shoulder to the wheel instead of constantly predicting a catastrophe and doing nothing to avoid it.” “We cannot stop the war but what is in my power is to respond to this situation with effective measures and that is what we are doing,” she said.

Thus, it has highlighted the measures adopted by the Government to combat inflation, which will serve to moderate it by 3.5 points “or more”, as well as the impulse that is intended to be given to the fight against prices through a pact of rents to three years, like the one that asked the social agents yesterday, and of which he believes that the evolution of the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI) should be part.

Precisely, in relation to the income pact, Calviño has assured that the Government and the social agents are “absolutely aligned” with respect to the need to contain inflation and prevent it from being persistent over time by moderating salaries and benefits.

“An income pact is a social pact so that there is a path, between now and 2025, that allows us to have legal certainty and a moderate evolution of wages, but also of business margins. It is about all of us rowing in the same direction”, insisted the vice president, who has denied that, for now, second-round effects are taking place.

Asked if linking wages to the CPI would make these second-round effects materialize, Calviño replied that both the Government and the social agents are “aware” that “moderation should be the guide in everything.”