GDP growth in Spain has accelerated in the second quarter of this year, indicating a robust upturn over the year.

This is according to a statement by the country’s Economy Minister, Nadia Calvino.

The Minister said the rebound in Spain’s economy was fuelled by the government’s stimulus plans after the pandemic, financed by rescue funding from the European Union. The Q2 figures have not as yet been published, as it comes to an end this week, Reuters news agency reports.

At the end of last week, the country’s statistics institute (INE) revised its Q1 economic growth to 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, a downward revision from the provious 0.3% forecast in April.

It was reported on Friday that Spain’s economy grew 6.3%, after increasing 5.5% in Q4 2021, INE stated.

The growth rate fell short of an initial forecast published by the national statistics institute at the end of April, which showed output expanded 0.3% compared to the prior quarter, and 6.4% from Q1 2021.

Earlier in June, the central bank lowered the growth forecast for the year from 4.5% to 4.1%.

Whereas in April, Spain’s government reduced the country's official GDP growth forecast for this year, from a predicted 7% to 4.3%. This highlights the economic impact of the war in Ukraine being felt in Spain and many other countries across the globe, as well as the pressure on the economy earlier in the year due to the Omicron variant of COVID.

Spain’s economy reported a robust recovery last year, with a forecast 5.1% GDP growth following a historic decline of 10.8% in 2020 as a result of the Covid crisis.