Press Release 29/11/2018

QUARTERLY ACCOUNTS. III/2018

The GDP of the Basque Country registered year-on-year growth of 2.6% in the third quarter of 2018

Employment continued to grow, with year-on-year growth of 2.0% registered in the third quarter

The GDP of the Basque Country was up 2.6% in the third quarter of 2018, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. Compared to the second quarter of 2018, estimated growth was 0.5%.

These increases confirmed the estimates provided in the Advance Quarterly Economic Accounts of the Basque Country on 30 October 2018 and places economic growth in the Basque Country above most of those of its neighbouring economies.

In terms of Supply, analysing changes in the production sectors revealed that the trend of growth is widespread across all sectors, except in the Primary sector (Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing), which was down 4.6% compared to the third quarter of 2017 and down 5.4% compared to the second quarter of 2018.

The Industry and Energy sector saw a deceleration in the growth of its value added in the third quarter, with a year-on-year rate of 1.9%, following several quarters with rates above 3%. This year-on-year deceleration marks a stagnation in the sector with respect to the previous quarter. The performance of the Manufacturing Industry was similar to that of the whole sector, with year-on-year growth of 2.0% and quarter-on-quarter stagnation.

The Construction sector saw an acceleration in the growth of its value added in the third quarter of 2018, with an estimated variation of 4.8%, compared to the same quarter of 2017. In quarter-on-quarter terms, the trend was also positive, with a rate of 1.5% with respect to the previous quarter.

A similar upward trend to that of the previous quarter was registered in global activity in the Services sector, with year-on-year growth of 2.7% and quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.5%. The branch of the sector that performed best was Other Services, which encompasses professional, scientific and technical activities, as well as financial and insurance activities, among others. Its value added was up 3.2% with respect to the same quarter of 2017 and up 0.7% with respect to the previous quarter. Both of these estimates were two tenths higher than those obtained for the second quarter. The Trade, Hotel Management & Catering and Transport branch saw an upward trend in the third quarter, although the growth of its value added was two tenths lower that that observed in the previous quarter in year-on-year terms (an increase of 2.5% compared to 2.7%). However, in quarter-on-quarter terms, it performed better than in the previous quarter (an increase of 0.5% in the third quarter following an increase of 0.3% in the previous quarter). Finally, the value added of the Public Administration, Education, Health and Social Services branch was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, and up 0.1% compared to the second quarter of 2018.

The Gross Added Value at basic prices of the Basque Country (obtained by adding the value added of the production sectors together) saw an increase of 2.6% this quarter compared to the third quarter of 2017, and an increase of 0.4% compared to the second quarter of 2018. Year-on-year growth was 3 tenths lower than the estimate of the previous quarter and one tenth lower in quarter-on-quarter terms.

In terms of supply, Gross Domestic Product at market prices, which is obtained by adding Net taxes on products to Added Value, saw an increase of 2.6% in its aggregated value in the third quarter of 2018 in year-on-year terms, and 1.7% compared to the second quarter of 2018.

Analysing the estimated change in GDP in terms of Demand reveals that, in year-on-year terms, the change in Internal Demand was one tenth below that of GDP, with estimated growth of 2.5%. The effect of trends in the foreign sector on the whole economy has therefore been positive, increasing year-on-year change in Internal Demand by one tenth, reaching 2.6%. Exports of Goods and Services increased by 2.2% in year-on-year terms (1.7% in quarter-on-quarter terms), whilst Imports of Goods and Services were up 2.1% (an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous quarter).

Final Consumption Expenditure of Households (Private Consumption) continued to grow, although at a slower rate than that observed in previous quarters. The year-on-year growth rate was 2.3%, which was an increase of 0.3% compared to the previous quarter.

However, in Public Consumption (Final Consumption Expenditure of Public Administrations), the deceleration of the estimated year-on-year growth (an increase of 1.2%) represented a contraction of 0.7% in estimated expenditure compared to the previous quarter.

The overall performance of the Final Consumption Expenditure of Public Administrations and the Final Consumption Expenditure of Households led to an upturn of 2.0% in the total of Final Consumption Expenditure. With regards to the second quarter of 2018, there was an increase of 0.1%.

Gross Capital Formation (Investment) saw annual growth of 4.0%, which involved quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4%. The evolution of Investment components has not been homogenous. Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Capital Goods increased by 2.9% in year-on-year terms, but this fell short of the increase of the previous quarter by 1.7%. However, Other Gross Capital Formation, closely tied to the performance of the Construction sector, saw an acceleration in its growth, reaching year-on-year growth of 4.6%. With regards to the second quarter of 2018, this represented an increase of 1.6%.

Regarding changes in GDP by Province, in year-on-year terms, Álava and Gipuzkoa saw a growth higher than the Basque Country overall, with a variation rate of 2.8%, whilst in Bizkaia growth was estimated at 2.4%. They also performed positively with respect to the second quarter of 2018, with increases of 0.5% in Álava and Bizkaia and 0.6% in Gipuzkoa.

The upward trend observed in recent periods continued in Employment, (measured as full-time equivalent jobs), with a year-on-year rate of 2.0%, and 0.4% compared to the previous quarter. This upward trend is due to the creation of jobs in Industry, Construction and in the Services Sector, with increases of 1.8%, 3.8% and 1.9% respectively. In the case of Construction, growth has accelerated, whilst in the Services sector, the increase was smaller than in the previous quarter; in Industry, the rate of job creation remained the same. With respect to the previous quarter, the Construction sector also stands out with an increase of 2.0%. In the case of Industry and Services, this increase was 0.9% and 0.1% respectively. In the Primary sector, the trend was negative, both in year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter terms (1.5% and 2% respectively).

Employment performed positively in the three Provinces: It rose by 2.2% in Álava, 2.1% in Gipuzkoa and finally, by 1.8% in Bizkaia.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62