A story in the Euro Weekly News on Monday highlighted just how remarkable Spain’s recent economic performance has been.
By the end of 2024, no other advanced country will have grown as much as Spain, according to Euro Weekly News. After strong growth in 2023 of 2.7%, this year Spain will be the fastest-growing advanced economy in the world, with growth of 2.9%, according to the IMF. This is reflected in the move a week ago by Credit Rating Agency Fitch Ratings to revise Spain’s Outlook from Stable to Positive.
This is clearly helped significantly by tourism, which has boomed in 2024 with some 85 million+ visitors, knocking France off the top spot.
But it is also due inward investment. Spain in now the second biggest car manufacturer in Europe after Germany, and this has increased the exports sector of the GDP from 25% in 2007 to 38% in 2024. The Spanish are also excelling in engineering, design, finance, tech, and culture.
But Spain has also benefitted economically from immigration. While immigration has been seen as a crisis in other EU countries, here in Spain an enormous influx of migrants from the Americas (many knowing the language and culture) has contributed positively to workforce and GDP growth, to the point that, today some 18% of the population were born outside of Spain.
Read the full story here.
Picture above – Big Red Donut Park Madrid