MADRID--Spain's economic growth accelerated in the fourth
quarter as consumer spending bounced despite deepening deflation,
statistics institute INE said Friday.
The eurozone's fourth-largest economy grew 0.7% in the three
months to December compared with the previous quarter, INE said.
That equated to an annual pace of growth of 2%, INE added. In the
third quarter, Spain's economy grew 0.5% from the second
quarter.
The INE estimates beat expectations. Last month, the Bank of
Spain said the economy likely grew 0.6% in the fourth quarter from
the third.
For the whole of 2014, Spain's economy grew 1.4%--the first year
in which there has been full-year economic growth since 2008. In
2013, gross domestic product contracted 1.2%.
Spain's economy has picked up faster than anticipated since
emerging a year ago from a six-year slump in which GDP shrank by
15% between 2008 and 2013, according to World Bank
estimates--significantly less than the 30% contraction recorded in
Greece but among the worst performances of any major developed
economy.
Write to David Román at david.roman@wsj.com
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