An uncertain 2012 is expected for the country of flamenco. According to what was stated today by the Minister of the Economy, Luis de Guindos, lhe economy of Spain in the first quarter of this year will score worse results than in the last three months of 2011, when the GDP contracted by 0,3%. However, the minister also gives signs of hope: "I hope that the second quarter will be a little less negative", continued Guindos, "and that there will be a stabilization in the second half of the year". But the minister could not deny that overall growth in 2012 will be negative.
But "the future is not engraved in marble, it depends on us: this is where economic policy, the measures taken by the government, the reforms of the banking sector and the labor market, the adjustment of regional public deficits come into play”, concluded the minister.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was also pessimistic, stating yesterday that the unemployment figure – currently at 22,85% – will worsen further over the course of the year. The estimates of the study center of the BBVA, one of the major Spanish banks, forecast a contraction of 0,2% in the first quarter and of 1,3% over all of 2012.
