Spain's economic growth softened, as estimated, in the first quarter, final data from the statistical office INE showed Thursday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6% from the fourth quarter, in line with the estimate published on April 30. This was slower than the 0.8% expansion seen in the previous quarter.
Domestic demand contributed 0.5 percentage points to GDP growth and external demand provided 0.1 percentage points.
Household consumption expenditure gained 0.6% and government consumption climbed 0.5%. At the same time, gross fixed capital formation edged up only 0.1%.
Exports of goods and services decreased 0.6% and imports dropped 1.0%. On a yearly basis, GDP growth improved marginally to 2.7%, as initially estimated, from 2.6% in the fourth quarter.
Further, data showed that full-time employment increased 2.8% in the first quarter from the last year.
