Madrid: The Spanish economy is recovering “better than expected” and is now among Europe’s best performers although it still faces “numerous” problems, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Friday.
“Things are going better than we expected. We are registering healthy and diversified growth which is here to stay,” he said during an annual end of term press conference.
“In less than two years we have gone from being an economy on the brink of a bailout to being one of the economies that grows the most in Europe,” he added.
“We are going in the right direction, but we are conscious that there is still much to do and the problems that we must tackle are still numerous.”
Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday the government planned to raise its 2014 and 2015 economic projections in September after stronger-than-expected performance over the last six months.
He said the forecasts are likely to be raised to an expansion of 1.5 per cent this year, up from a previous estimate of 1.2 per cent, and possibly 2 per cent next year, up from 1.8 per cent.
In 2008 a Spanish property clash plunged the Eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy into five years of economic and financial turmoil.
Spain faced pressure to seek a full financial bailout from the eurozone in 2012. In the end it got by with €41 billion ($55 billion; Dh201 billion) to rescue its banks.
Spain technically exited its second recession in five years in mid-2013.
The Spanish economy expanded by a better-than-expected 0.6 per cent, up from growth of 0.4 per cent in the first quarter with the government crediting its reforms to the banking system and labour market for the stronger growth.