After five long years of stagnation, Spain’s economy grew by 1.4 percent in 2014, the country’s national statistics agency INE reported Thursday, the Local says.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Spain’s GDP grew by 0.7 percent, the largest quarterly increase the country had since 2008. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Spain “has emerged from the nightmare”, according to the Irish Times.
“Spain has gone from the verge of bankruptcy to becoming an example of economic recovery which right now other EU countries are looking to,” Rajoy said enthusiastically.
Opposition parties, however, did not share much of Prime Minister’s optimism, saying that new jobs being created are mostly temporary and poor quality. They also reminded Rajoy that although the unemployment rate has started to drop a little, it is still at 24 percent.
