Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 08:00h

The Catalan economy will grow by 3% in 2008

In a context marked by a generalised slowing down, Catalonia will grow by 0.9 points more than the euro zone

The Catalan economy will grow by 3% in 2008 according to the indications of the Catalan Ministry of Economy and Finances. The analysis of the macroeconomic chart envisaged for 2008, shows how the Catalan GDP will enter into a new phase characterised by solid growth and on more sustainable bases.  In a context marked by the generalised slowing down of the advanced economies, Catalonia will grow 0.9 points above the euro zone (2.1% according to the IMF).

The indicators also suggest that the foundations of this growth will be more balanced: the slowing down of the consumption of homes and the deceleration of investment in construction will contribute to moderating the contribution of the interior demand on the whole. This reduction will be compensated by the maintaining of the good progress of the exterior sector, with exports that will grow by 5.3% in 2008. The slowing down of the consumption of homes will also stabilise the increase of prices, which will contribute to improving the competitiveness of Catalan products.

In addition, the Catalan economy will continue to create employment: with 66,700 new jobs, the rate of unemployment in 2008 will be 6.1%.