The high dependence of the service sector in Catalonia caused the drop in GDP in 2020 due to the covid to be the most intense of the comparable European regions. The data shows that Catalonia is less and less one of the locomotives of Europe due to the loss of presence of the industry.
The Anuari Econòmic Comarcal BBVA shows that while Catalonia lost 11.7% of GDP in 2020, the Hannover region only 4.2% and Brussels 5.2%. In addition to the Catalan community, the regions that had the worst performance were the Italian Veneto (-9.5%) and Lombardia (-8.7%).
The UAB professor, Josep Oliver, who has prepared the report, has reflected that with the Next Generation funds the weight of the services sector can be reduced somewhat in the future, but that on the employment side they will be predominant. "Perhaps in added value the industry can grow but in terms of employment I doubt it," he detailed.
The report presented today shows how the Catalan counties as a whole recovered 5.8% of their activity in 2021. Growth was led by the Camp de Tarragona counties (7.4%), the Girona Axis (6.9 %) and power plants (6.7%).
Oliver has predicted that by the end of this year, the Catalan economy will have recovered the GDP it had before the pandemic or it will be ready. Only the mountain regions, Girona and Tarragona will continue below the pre-pandemic level. Those are the areas where GDP fell the most with the covid. In his opinion, the community is not going to enter a recession in the next few quarters.
