The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Castile and León recorded an increase of 3.6 percent in the second quarter of 2024, with economic growth in the region that “exceeds forecasts”, since in the last quarter these data amounted to 3 percent, due to the “attraction” of the agricultural, industrial and services sector, a growth higher than that of Spain as a whole (2.9%) and the European Union (0.8%) and the Eurozone (0.6%).
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Carlos Fernández Carriedo, indicated that the regional economy has a positive behavior and has experienced the highest growth ever recorded in recent quarters and clarified that although the agriculture and livestock sector is consolidated, there has been greater growth in the agricultural sector.
Likewise, Carriedo emphasized that Castilla y León is the second autonomous community with the highest growth in industrial production, something “very relevant” when it happens that last year it also occupied these first positions. For its part, the quarterly variation was 0.2% during this period (0.7% in the previous one), reports Ep.
During the press conference to present the quarterly regional accounting of Castilla y León, Carriedo stressed that the latest available data on agricultural production for the 2023/2024 campaign reflect growth in agricultural production, compared to the decreases produced in the two previous campaigns, while in the livestock sector there was a decrease in production compared to the increase in the previous quarter.
For its part, the GVA of industry increased in the second quarter to a greater extent than in the previous period (respectively 5.2% and 2.2%). Among the industrial branches, the manufacturing industry increased this quarter more than the previous one (respectively 2.2% and 1.1%), recording the supply of electrical energy is experiencing significant growth, higher than that of the first quarter.
The construction sector recorded an interannual variation of 1.8% in the second quarter of 2024, lower than the previous period (2.2%). Finally, the GVA of the services sector as a whole recorded a year-on-year growth of 3.1% in the second quarter, two tenths more than in the previous quarter, driven by the greater growth in trade, transport and hospitality, financial and insurance activities and real estate activities.
From a demand perspective, in the second quarter of 2024, a greater positive contribution of domestic demand to GDP growth was recorded, which increased from 2.7 to 2.9 percentage points (pp) during this quarter.
The contribution of the foreign sector increased from 0.4 to 0.7 pp.During this period, the Minister of Economy and Finance detailed where total exports and total imports recorded lower growth than in the previous period.
Final consumption expenditure increased by 2.8% in this second quarter, more than in the previous quarter (2.6%), due to the greater increase in final consumption expenditure of households (2.7% compared to 2.6% in the previous period) and of Public Administrations (2.8% and 2.5%, respectively).
As for Gross capital formation (investment) recorded a variation of 2.7% in this quarter, as in the previous period, where investment in construction accelerated and investment in capital goods increased to a lesser extent. Investment in capital goods increased by 2.3% year-on-year, which is less than in the previous quarter (2.4%).
For its part, investment in construction recorded an increase of 3% this quarter (2.9% in the previous period). The external sector presented a positive contribution of 0.7 pp to GDP growth in the second quarter of the year (0.4 pp in the previous period), with a slowdown in total exports (from 2.4% to 2.2% this quarter) and total imports (from 1.7% to 0.9% in the second quarter).
Increase in hiring in the field
Employment, measured in full-time equivalent jobs, defined as the number of hours worked between the average day spent in a full-time job, reflects an interannual variation of 0.4% during this second quarter (1% the previous one), with greater growth in industry and services, a decline in construction and a more significant contraction in employment in the primary sector.
In this regard, Carriedo stressed the “very relevant” contribution of the total external balance, which add seven tenths to this growth in domestic demand due to the evolution of exports, which are growing at a rate of 2.2%, which is also “very important”, because last year Castilla y León was the community that grew in this area.
In relation to this issue, the Minister of Economy and Finance stressed that the region has experienced an accumulated growth compared to what it had already registered, so that the contribution of the external balance of the autonomous community to the economy, which is to say what The difference between exports and imports contributes seven tenths, to which is added 2.9% of domestic demand which represents 3.6% of GDP growth.
In short, the head of the Economy and Finance portfolio showed that Castilla y León is experiencing a growth of 3.6%, an increase six times higher than that of the Eurozone and at the same time seven tenths better than the national average, which is based on the “favorable” evolution of the productive sectors.
