Spanish economy continues to gather pace, says Bank of Spain

Growth in the Spanish economy continues to gather pace. According to estimates in the Bank of Spain’s monthly bulletin, released on Wednesday, GDP increased 0.5 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the previous three months. The growth figure for the first quarter of 2014 came in at 0.4 percent.

According to the central lender, “the recovery continued to gather strength in a gradual manner, in an environment in which the normalization of financial conditions and improvements to employment and confidence continue.”

If the second-quarter estimates are confirmed, the Spanish economy will have seen 12 months of positive quarter-on-quarter GDP growth.

The lender added that, according to these estimates, the recovery in activity will have exceeded the rhythm predicted in the Bank of Spain’s “Forecast report,” published in March.

The effects of the global economic crisis and the collapse of the real estate market saw Spain plunged into the worst downturn in living memory in 2009, and after a mild recovery over the following two years, the country slipped back into recession in 2012. The Popular Party government has introduced a series of reforms to reactivate the economy since coming to power in 2011, in particular with the aim of bringing down unemployment, which hit an unprecedented high of 27 percent in 2013