Catalan economy sees 6.4% year-on-year growth during first quarter of 2022

The Catalan economy grew by 6.4% year-on-year over the first quarter of 2022, according to figures made public by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat) on Friday.

While the Spanish economy also grew by 6.4% year-on-year in Q1, the EU average was 5.2%.

Catalonia experienced a 0.1% increase on Q4 2021 – below Spain's 0.3% and the EU's 0.4% over the same period. 

Services sector recovery

This growth is largely attributed to the recovery in the services sector (8.9%), especially due to the rise in tourism after a pandemic-related dip, which, albeit below 2019 rates, has helped revive air travel, hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies. 

Other businesses, such as wholesale commerce, storage services, legal services or advertising, have also experienced growth.  

Meanwhile, the industrial sector, now at 0.4%, contracted a full percentage point as high inflation rates have brought up costs. 

Construction, on the other hand, was at 1.7% in Q1 2022 (up from 1.6% in Q4 2021), while agriculture experienced a year-on-year Q1 contraction of -4% (-1.5% in Q4 2021).