Spanish Economy Showing Signs of Recovery Post Pandemic

THE Spanish economy is showing signs of post-coronavirus recovery having felt the devastating effects of the pandemic in 2020. The first indication of recovery is attributed to employment figures. The number of contributors to the social security system has been increasing steadily since March, with over 70,000 new affiliations from April’s data.

The Spanish Government has indicated signs of recovery since mid-April with an anticipated busy summer period of tourism to boost the nation – subject to how the virus will trend over the coming months. Óscar Arce, the chief economist at the Bank of Spain comments, “Things are getting better and the normal course of events would be for growth to accelerate gradually, always depending on the evolution of vaccines and barring any more trouble from the virus,” adding that, “The short-term risk used to be the pace of vaccination; now, with a view to the summer, the key lies in saving the tourism season; towards the end of the year, it will be important to implement the European funds.” 

Spain will need to maintain control over the virus situation as the country relies heavily on the success of the tourism industry, contributing 12 per cent to the overall economy. Ángel Talavera, the Head of European Economics at Oxford Economics remarks, “There’s a feeling that we’ve left the worst behind. But there is still a lot of uncertainty, especially regarding the tourism season and markets like Britain. If that clears up, we could see a very positive surge in expectations, but the main things are vaccines and infections.”