Aragon's economy has performed better this year than originally forecast in the region. Despite the turbulent situation caused by both political and economic factors, Aragon has maintained good growth rates, but not the most outstanding at the country level. Ibercaja's research department predicts positive prospects for the region's economy expecting the local economy's GDP to grow by 0.9% in 2023. At the beginning of the year, the forecast was only 0.1% with almost stagnation.
Ibercaja's forecast for Spain as a whole has also become more optimistic. Its previous estimates suggested that GDP would grow by 0.4% by the end of the year, but it has changed by 1.2%. One of the factors that changed the forecasts is the situation with the energy crisis in Europe. It has passed, and the most negative scenarios have not been implemented. The continent's economy needs to deal with inflation and the threat of a new global crisis. However, the situation looks better than expected.
For 2024, Ibercaja experts predict that the dynamics of GDP growth will depend on how the problem of inflation, the situation with interest rates and borrowed funds for the economy will be solved. Of course, the global crisis will also affect the country’s GDP growth. If this passes, the situation will be more encouraging than during the global recession. Some experts expect it to happen this summer. Anyway, the market realities suggest that Aragon's GDP will increase by 1.1% in 2024, and Spain's by 1.5%. The forecast was lowered from 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively.
The forecasts of various research organizations and analytical services on the economic prospects of Aragon differ little from each other. They are also similar to those of the regional government and remain lower as they increase. The most optimistic forecast is GDP growth of 2.1% by the end of 2023. On average, this indicator ranges from 0.6% (from CEOE of Aragon) to 1.3% (from BBVA and Airef).