Spanish economic activity by institutional sector: Divergent growth since the creation of the euro
Institutional sectors
Fecha: marzo 2025
Vicente Salas Fumás
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 14 N.º2 (March 2025)
Spain’s institutional sectors have shown divergent growth patterns over the last 25 years, coinciding with the euro’s introduction. Non-financial corporations (NFCs) have remained the largest contributors to gross value added (GVA), employment, and investment, despite setbacks from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast, the household sector has experienced persistent underperformance, with output in 2024 still 20% below its potential had it consistently grown at a rate of 2% per year. Meanwhile, public sector investment has frequently trailed capital consumption, particularly during austerity periods. While recent improvements in gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) have occurred in the public sector, current net capital investment in the NFC sector is less than one-third of its 2000 value. The lagging recovery in the capital formation of NFCs in the post-pandemic era raises concerns about the dynamics of growth in productive capacity of the Spanish corporate sector.