Spain's economy grew by 5 percent in 2021, the country's National Statistical Institute (INE) said, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The growth, however, is below the government's target. The government had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to increase by 6.5 percent in 2021 after a year in which it contracted by 10.8 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The INE figure is better than the predictions of 4.6 percent growth by the International Monetary Fund and 4.5 percent by both the Bank of Spain and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
On Thursday, the INE published data showing that Spain created 840,600 new jobs in 2021, with unemployment falling by 616,000 as the economic recovery begins to pick up speed.