Spain’s household and corporate accounts: Two years after the pandemic
Fecha: mayo 2022
María Jesús Fernández
Non-Financial Accounts
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 11 N.º 3 (May 2022)
Although the recovery in Spanish GDP was somewhat less intense than initially expected in 2021, the recovery in employment was noteworthy and stronger than anticipated. Against that backdrop, the recovery in household income was more intense than that of the corporate segment that year. Household GDI ended 2021 2.8% below that of 2019, whereas corporate income remained 9.7% lower. The more pronounced recovery in the former was driven largely by public sector wages, as well as social benefits, which both rose above 2019 levels. Spain’s households once again registered excess savings in 2021, albeit below 2020 levels, earmarking nearly the entire volume of surplus savings towards housing investment. Despite that, household debt levels increased for the first time since 2008, albeit by a far lesser degree than the increase in Spanish corporate debt. That said, Spain’s companies too increased their leverage, despite generating, on aggregate, a sizeable net lending position, with companies most affected by the pandemic taking on additional borrowings largely to fund current expenses and ultimately, to some extent, eroding their overall financial health.