Spain's economy grows by 1.4 pct in 2014
Xinhua, January 30, 2015 Adjust font size:
The Spanish economy grew by 1.4 percent in 2014 according to advanced data published on Friday by Spain's Statistical Office (INE).
If this figure is confirmed on Feb. 26, it will be the first time Spain's economy has grown on a year-on-year basis in six years.
Prior to the 2008 housing crisis, Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) registered a 3.8-percent growth in 2007. By contrast, the growth slowed to 1.1 percent the following year.
Spain's economy has not stopped contracting since then, except in 2010 when the growth rate stood at zero. The Spanish economy fell by 3.6 percent in 2009, by 0.6 percent in 2011, and by 2.1 percent and 1.2 percent in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Alvaro Nadal, from Spain's Economic Affairs Office, described the 2014 growth rate as positive, predicting Spain could grow between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent in 2015. This would happen providing the economy performs as well as it did in the last quarter of 2014, he said.
According to the INE, Spain's economy grew by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter in 2014, the biggest quarter-on-quarter growth rate in seven years. Endit