The services sector of Spain showed positive growth during September 2023. This was a refreshing development, given that the services sector actually showed a contraction in August.
For now, the new businesses in Spain remain strong with a positive trend of hiring new staff as well. As per the S&P Global, the PMI index for the services sector of Spain registered a reading of 50.5 during September. In August, the reading was 49.3, which is an indication of contraction.
So, we can say that the services sector has officially left the contraction territory and is now registering positive growth. According to one chief economist, the recent data about Spain's services sector highlights the resilience of Spain's economy among all the other economies of the EU.
The experts believe that Spain will likely achieve a GDP growth of 0.1% in this quarter. Overall, a growth of 2% in the year 2023 will be achieved by Spain.
As per the survey, the services sector is going through stagnation, and the business sentiment is also going down. This can be troubling for the country, given that the services sector represents around 50% of the total GDP.
Another survey regarding the manufacturing activity in Spain showed that the sector is going through 6th month of contraction.
In simple words, the factory activity of Spain is showing contraction while the services sector has officially entered into the growth zone.
For this year, the Spanish government is aiming for 2.1% GDP growth, while the country's central bank believes that GDP expansion of 2.3% is highly likely. Similarly, the IMF believes that the Spanish economy can grow by 2.5% in the year 2023.
This is a rather strange occurrence as the government's forecast is more humble than the target set by the IMF. Generally, governments usually try to set a higher growth target than the one suggested by the IMF officials.