The Catalan economy maintains a stable growth rate in the first quarter of 2017

The Catalan economy maintains a stable growth rate in the first quarter of 2017 and an annual growth of 2.7%

 The industry continues to expand and improve its outlook in the first quarter of 2017, although the two sectors are still far from returning to the pre-crisis situation. In the last months of 2016, the Catalan economy has performed better than expected and, consequently, quarter-on-quarter GDP growth has only fallen one tenth compared to the previous quarter, standing at 0.6%. According to this estimate, annual GDP growth would increase from 3.4% in the third quarter to 2.9% in the fourth quarter.

Once completed the year, the Chamber and AQR-Lab of the University of Barcelona estimate that the Catalan economy grew by 3.3% in 2016, a growth similar to the 3.4% registered in 2015 and a tenth higher than The INE estimate for Spain (3.2%).

The quarterly growth practically stabilized in the fourth quarter and first quarter of 2017

The strength of domestic demand is offsetting the negative effect of the increase in oil prices and as a result, the economy has maintained a relatively stable growth in the fourth quarter of 2006, which will be the first quarter of 2017 (0.6% quarter on quarter). The four main factors explaining this relatively stable rate of growth are: the strength of job creation, the dynamism of consumption, the very favorable financial conditions and the depreciation of the euro

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