The Spanish economy grew by 0.4% between April and June compared to the previous quarter, one tenth less than in the previous period, and moderated its interannual rate by more than two points, from 4.2% in the first quarter to 1.8 % in the second due to the lower contribution of the foreign sector, according to the advance data from the Quarterly National Accounts published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Economic growth has been sustained by national demand (consumption and investment) that contributes 1.9 points to the indicator, while external demand (exports and imports) suffers a collapse and subtracted 1.5 points from the economic growth of the first quarter.
Exports of goods and services slowed down their growth rate to 0.7% year-on-year, 9.5 points less than in the previous quarter. Imports of goods and services varied by 0.2% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, 3.1 points less than in the first quarter.
Household consumption rose 1.6% between April and June after two negative quarters and public spending increased 1.5%, compared to the 1.6% drop in the previous quarter.
Final consumption spending increased by 1.4% compared to the same quarter of 2022, two tenths less compared to the previous quarter, and final consumption spending by households rose 0.5% year-on-year, representing 1.2 points less than in the previous quarter. For its part, the final consumption expenditure of the Public Administrations grew by 3.8%, with an increase of 2.3 points with respect to the previous quarter.
Gross capital formation registers a variation of 2.2%, 1.7 points higher than that of the
previous quarter.
For its part, investment increased by 1.8% year-on-year. Investment in tangible fixed assets presents an interannual rate of 1.8%, which is 1.0 points more than in the previous quarter. By components, investment in housing and other buildings and constructions decreased five tenths, from 4.9% to 4.4%, while investment in machinery, capital goods and weapons systems grew 3.1 points
presenting a variation of 2.8%, compared to 5.9% of the previous quarter. On the other hand, investment in intellectual property products experienced a variation of 2.5%, with an increase of 2.4 points with respect to the rate of the previous quarter.
In an inter-quarter comparison, the 7.3% increase in investment in housing and construction stands out, compared to the smaller advance in business investment (1%) which boosted investment by 4.6%.
Employment in the economy, in terms of hours worked, grew by 1.3% quarter-on-quarter, 1.2 points more than at the start of the year. In year-on-year terms, the number of hours actually worked decreased five tenths, to 0.6%. The rate is similar in the case of full-time equivalent jobs, although it grows by 1.1 points compared to the first quarter. This growth is explained by the combined effect of the variation in hours worked and the increase in the average working day in full-time jobs, which went from a rate of 0.1% to one of 0.0% this quarter.
Compensation of employees grew by 7.3% in year-on-year terms in the second quarter, seven tenths lower than that of the previous quarter, as a result of the 2.8% increase in the number of employees, one tenth higher than that of the previous quarter, and that the average remuneration per employee grew less (4.5% compared to 5.3% in the first quarter).
“The economic effects of the pandemic have been revealed in the aggregates of the Spanish National Accounts since the first quarter of 2020,” says the INE in a note accompanying the national accounting data. To these effects have been added, since March 2022, those caused by the international crisis derived from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with very significant distortions of a different nature in various areas (…). Given the difficulty inherent in the statistical measurement of changes in the situation of this magnitude, it suggests that future revisions of the results published today may be of a magnitude greater than usual”.
The INES also points out that, “once again, that, in the current context, the analysis of certain variables is especially relevant. In the case of employment measurement, attention should be paid not only to full-time equivalent jobs , but also to the rest of the variables, such as the people employed, the jobs and the hours actually worked. It must be taken into account, for example, that the equivalent jobs are affected both by the number of hours worked, and by that of the average working day of people who work full time”.
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