‘Spain set to grow faster than Germany’: PwC

Annual growth in Spain will be 1.79 percent in this period, against 1.5 percent for the Eurozone, said the accounting giant in the September issue of its Global Economy Watch.  

 

Spain's growth will also be higher than that of Germany (1.5 percent), France (1.6 percent), and Italy (0.8 percent). 

 

Fellow struggling eurozone economies Greece and Ireland are also predicted to see strong growth from 2015 to 2019 — at 2.5 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.

 

The PwC forecasts for Spain reflect a generally positive diagnosis of the state of the European and World economies.

 

"After five years of crisis, recession and disappointing growth we think that developed economies may now be approaching the 'escape velocity' needed for a sustainable recovery," said the authors of Global Economy Watch.

 

They cited the Eurozone's 0.3 percent growth in the second quarter of 2012, the slight growth of the US, Japan and the UK in the same period, and a bump in global consumer sentiment.

 

But the accounting firm said the Eurozone’s problems were not over. 

 

"Economic fundamentals are still weak in (the zone's) peripheral economies," said PwC. 

 

The firm also expressed concerns about debt sustainability and high unemployment in some Eurozone countries.

 

On a global level, the slowing growth rates of countries like India, China and Brazil was also a cause for concern.