The IMF improves its growth forecast for Spain in 2023 to 1.5%, but lowers that of 2024 to 2%

11 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Spanish economy will grow this year at a rate of 1.5%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which represents an upward revision of four tenths compared to the previous forecast, although the international institution has also lowered four tenths its expansion forecast for 2024, up to 2%.

In this way, Spain remains the large economy in the EU with the highest rate of expansion this year and next, according to the ‘World Economic Outlook’ report presented this Tuesday in Washington by the IMF.

Compared to the forecast update of last January, the Spanish economy is the one that registers the largest upward revision among the major European economies in the IMF forecast for this year, but it is also the one that suffers the largest downward revision in relation to the forecasts for 2024.

In any case, the Spanish economy will continue to grow substantially more than the euro zone average, whose expansion forecast has been revised upwards by one tenth in 2023, to 0.8%, but two tenths downward for the next year, up 1.4%.

The new IMF projections for the Spanish economy are thus below the forecasts published at the end of March by the Bank of Spain, which expects GDP growth of 1.6% in 2023, as well as 2.3% in 2024 and 2.1% for 2025.

INFLATION OF 4.3% THIS YEAR

As for the rest of the macroeconomic projections, the multilateral organization anticipates that the inflation rate in Spain will moderate this year to an average of 4.3% in 2023, compared to 8.3% in 2022, while next year prices will rise an average of 3.2%.

In this way, the IMF has adjusted its inflation forecast for Spain upwards, since it previously expected a price rise of 3.7% this year and 2.7% in 2024.

On the other hand, the institution is somewhat more optimistic with regard to the labor market and forecasts that the unemployment rate will drop this year to 12.6%, compared to the previously estimated 12.8%, while by 2024 it is confident that it will fall to 12.4%, one tenth below its previous projection.