04 September, 2015

By VIVA Team

Wolfgang Schaeuble believes Spain is setting an example for others to follow.

The Finance Minister of Europe’s strongest economy has publicly and vocally praised Spain as an example that others should follow as the continent continues to pull itself out of the economic mire.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s Finance Minister, speaking at a business conference in Berlin, said: “Spain is the best example that we’ve done a lot of things quite right in Europe…”

Schaeuble was talking about Spain’s impressive economic turnaround following the double-dip recession that struck the country between 2008 and 2012. The tough labour reforms and taxation changes have had the desired impact, with the country now on course to achieve growth of around four per cent this year.

The minister’s comments were backed up by data released last week by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) that revealed the economy grew by a further one per cent in the second quarter of the year, propelling Spain to pre-crisis levels of growth.

The main driver for this recovery is improved domestic consumption, the INE said, with household spending up one per cent for the quarter, marking nine consecutive quarters of growth.

In the public sphere, spending has increased by a modest but encouraging 0.4 per cent, ending years of stagnation that had seen many public services halted or scaled back.

Even employment, which has proven stubbornly low despite the less tangible signs of recovery, has improved – INE data shows that unemployment fell by 2.9 per cent in the second quarter of the year, with the jobless rate now 22 per cent.

At the same Berlin business conference – which was attended by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy – German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed her finance minister’s words, adding: “The situation on the labour market is still serious, but many new jobs are being created and thus Spain is contributing to Europe pulling itself out of the crisis step by step.”