Malaga province sees its GDP sink the most of all mainland Spain

A Bank of Spain report has revealed that only the Balearic and Canary Islands have had their local economies hit harder by the pandemic

NURIA TRIGUERO

Saturday, 13 February 2021, 20:32

Last year, the Spanish economy suffered the biggest fall since the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Its GDP sank 11% on average, one of the sharpest declines of any developed country and well ahead of the estimated world average of a 3.5% fall.

Some Spanish provinces have fared much better or worse than others, however. Hardest hit are the Spanish islands and the Mediterranean Costas, according to a Bank of Spain survey published on Wednesday this week.

Malaga, including the Costa del Sol, is the province on the mainland that has seen its economy contract the most with a 17% fall. Only the two island groups fell further: the Balearics, by 27%, and the two Canary Islands provinces - Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife - by 21% and 19% respectively.

The Bank of Spain information reveals that only ten of the fifty Spanish provinces have seen a drop in economic activity that is worse than the 11% national average, although those ten hardest-hit have larger populations and make up a third of the size of the country's economy.

The six most-affected provinces in order are: Balearics, Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Malaga, Gerona and Alicante. The Bank of Spain says they are charaterised by "the importance of the tourist sector, especially the part linked to foreign demand".

On the other hand, the regions with smaller falls in activity are those with least exposure to international tourism. These are the Extremadura region (with falls of 5.3% in both Cáceres and Badajoz provinces) and the provinces in the Castilla-La Mancha region, as well as Zamora and Teruel.

These areas also have a higher proportion of their day-to-day activity made up of sectors less affected by Covid-19, such as farming and the public sector, and their economy is less dependent on the movement of people.

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