Spanish Economy Grows by 0.6% Driven by Household Consumption

The trade war has yet to impact the Spanish economy, which recorded a growth of 0.6% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2024, according to the advance of the National Accounts published this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Tourism and domestic demand once again served as the main drivers of growth, albeit to a lesser extent than in recent years. Analysts from Funcas and the Fiscal Authority (Airef) had predicted that GDP would grow by around 0.6% from January to March, making this data a new boost for macroeconomic figures.

GDP figures that surprise on the upside, especially considering that this Monday the INE published the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the first quarter, revealing that unemployment rose to 11.4%, eight-tenths higher than at the end of 2024. Although it remains nine-tenths lower than a year ago, the increase adds 193,700 more people to the SEPE lists between January and March, the largest quarterly increase since 2013, during the height of the real estate bubble crisis. The unemployed in Spain have risen from 2.56 million people at the end of 2024 to 2.79 million in the first quarter of 2025.