The Government has improved the growth forecasts for the Catalan economy for this year due to internal demand and exports and has worsened the forecasts for next year. The slowdown expected for 2024 is "a consequence of uncertainty due to the weakness of the global environment, the war in Ukraine, the persistence of underlying inflation and the effects of the tightening of financial conditions," according to a statement from the Department of Economy.
The Government increased the increase in GDP for 2023 by seven tenths, up to 2.4%. On the other hand, for 2024 it has been cut by four tenths, remaining at 1.8%. In both cases, the levels are very far from the recovery that occurred in 2022 when the community's economy grew more than 5.5%.
"In 2024, internal demand will gain prominence, due to improved confidence, the progressive recovery of real incomes and the deployment of European Next Generation funds," detailed the Department of Economy. "Despite the context of deceleration, the resilience of the labor market would allow the unemployment rate to be stabilized at around 9%," he added. "After a notable and continued improvement in labor market indicators since the beginning of 2021, the Catalan labor market is increasingly closer to its potential. Thus, in 2024, full-time equivalent employment would grow by 1.1 ", which would translate into the creation of almost 39,000 jobs." according to the Government statement.
Macro forecasts are important for the preparation of the Generalitat's budgets.
