Spanish 2021 growth forecast after tough first quarter

Spanish economy. | M.A.CAÑELLAS

ReutersPalma08/04/2021 10:20

The Spanish government will lower its forecast for gross domestic product growth in 2021 after the first quarter was worse than expected, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said on Thursday.

"We leave behind a tough first quarter of the year, and that’s the main reason why we are going to revise downwards our forecast of this year," she said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

"We were expecting to have around 7% growth this year. It may be smaller due to the delay, one quarter delay in terms of the recovery," she added.

All indicators for March were positive, Calvino said, and even though the second quarter will be a transition quarter, the second half of the year will experience "a very strong rebound".

Currently, the government projects a 7.2% rebound this year after output dropped by 11% in 2020, but the central bank and other analysts expect slower growth.