Spain Chops Back Economic Growth as Trade, Brexit Take Toll

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Spain’s economy is growing less than initially estimated, with new figures showing a weaker performance in the first half of the year.

The revisions from the statistics office come a week after the country’s central bank cut its economic growth forecasts, warning that Spain faces headwinds from troubled Brexit negotiations and global trade tensions. The downgrades are also technical after Spain’s statistics agency revised years of data earlier this month, part of a standard review process.

GDP rose 0.5% in the first quarter and 0.4% in the second, down from 0.7% and 0.5% previously reported. The updates also mean that year-on-year growth was 2% in the three months through June, down from 2.3%.

The Bank of Spain said this month that it expects expansion of 2% this year, with a further deceleration to 1.7% in 2020. That compares with June projections for 2.4% and 1.9%.

In addition to global tensions, Spain has had years of political paralysis, and another general election is due to take place in November.

--With assistance from Ainhoa Goyeneche.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fergal O'Brien in Zurich at fobrien@bloomberg.net;Jeannette Neumann in Madrid at jneumann25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Charles Penty at cpenty@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Ben Sills

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