By Maria Martinez
Spain's economy grew only modestly in the first quarter, as the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in early 2022 weighed substantially on the services sector.
The eurozone's fourth-biggest economy expanded 0.3% in the first quarter over the previous quarter, after a 2.2% expansion in the last quarter of 2021, according to a first estimate from the Spanish statistics agency INE released Friday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast 0.5% gross domestic product growth for the quarter.
The Spanish economy grew 6.4% on year in the first quarter, following a 5.5% year-on-year expansion in the fourth quarter, INE said. This was below the 6.6% expansion forecast by economists polled by the Journal.
Spain's data follow the release of France's first GDP estimate for the quarter, which showed it was stagnant. Germany, Italy and the eurozone are also scheduled to publish GDP figures Friday.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-29-22 0315ET
