Madrid, (Samajweekly) Spain’s economy grew by 5 per cent in 2021, the country’s National Statistical Institute (INE) said.
The growth, however, is below the government’s target, reports Xinhua news agency.
The government had expected the gross domestic product (GDP) to increase by 6.5 per cent in 2021 after a year in which it contracted by 10.8 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The INE figure is better than the predictions of 4.6 per cent growth by the International Monetary Fund and 4.5 per cent by both the Bank of Spain and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Earlier this week, the INE published data showing that Spain created 840,600 new jobs in 2021, with unemployment falling by 616,000 as the economic recovery begins to pick up speed.
