The Basque Country will grow 3.6% this year and 2.7% next year, according to Laboral Kutxa

Euskaraz irakurri: Euskadi % 3.6 haziko da aurten, eta % 2.7, datosrren urtean, Laboral Kutxaren arabera

Laboral Kutxa has lowered its economic forecasts and expects the Basque Country to grow by 3.6% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023, according to the estimates of the latest Report on the economy presented this Thursday by the entity.

In a press conference, the director of the Laboral Kutxa Studies Department, Joseba Madariaga, pointed out that it is “difficult” for the Basque Country or Spain to enter a recession unless “a stress scenario” materializes, which at this time he does not foresee.

Madariaga, who believes that prices will continue to grow this year, although at the end of the year the rate could “begin to give way”, has stated that, in order to enter a recession, two “substantial” economic events must come together. In this sense, he has pointed out that a possible interruption of gas supply by Russia would be a “big blow to the European economy”, which could “lead to a recession”.

The author of the study has therefore ensured that “the uncertainty is very high”, so the figures “should be considered estimates subject to great variability” and, according to his forecasts, the Basque GDP will grow by 3.6% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023. In addition, it forecasts employment growth of 1% this year and 0.7% next year in the Basque Country.

In any case, Madariaga stressed that right now it is “growing” although “it has slowed down” and, “despite such an unexciting environment”, he has highlighted “the transformative drive” that the Next Generation Funds “must suppose for the economy” since “they offer an excellent opportunity in order to generate productive fabric that allows modernizing the economic structure of the country”.