Sur published figures on Thursday to show that the economy of Malaga province was growing faster than of the Andalucía region, Spain as a whole and the European Union!
The article quoted a variety of sources of data, which agreed the headlines even if they differed somewhat on the details.
Analistas Económicos de Andalucía from Unicaja calculated that in 2024 the province’s economy grew 4.4%, way ahead of the next two Andalusian provinces – Seville and Almeria, which grew by only 3.3%. The reason? The Unicaja economists put it down to internal demand, tourist activity and growth in employment in Malaga.
Malaga’s Association of Economists was somewhat more conservative, putting the province’s economic growth at 2.8% for 2025, a figure that still contrasts positively with its forecasts of Andalucía (2.2%) and Spain (2.6%), and the Eurozone (only 1%) this year.
But there are headwinds, particularly the possibility of a trade war with the US. According to the Unicaja report, “The growing trade tensions are the main element of risk for these projections, due to their potential impact on global activity, inflation and supply chains”. And Javier Font, Secretary to the Association of Economists, reminded us to look at more local issues: “we must also take into account some negative data, such as inflation, which is above average, as well as the lack of housing supply, which significantly pushes up the price of housing.” His colleague, Manuel Méndez, Dean of the Association, added a further concern, namely the lack of transport infrastructure, both for those living outside Malaga city and the wider transport sectors: “It is clear that transport is essential to move people around. We also have a very important logistics sector. The lack of infrastructure makes transport more expensive.”
On the more positive side, the rate of job creation in Malaga exceeds the average for Andalucía and a quarter of the working population of Andalucía now works in Malaga.
Read the Sur article here.