The Spanish government has forecast a 2.5 percent economic growth for 2017, according to last predictions announced on Friday by the Spanish Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness Luis de Guindos.
De Guindos announced the new forecasts at the press conference after the cabinet meeting on Friday where 2017 State's General Budget was passed.
The government predicted an unemployment rate of 16.6 percent for the fourth quarter in 2017, predicting that a total of 506,000 new jobs will be created all over the year with unemployment falling by 458,000 and employed people surpassing the 19 million mark.
De Guindos highlighted that the external sector is expected to make important contributions to the country's GDP, with exports increasing by 5.1 percent, which would be "the highest rate since 2011", he pointed out.
On the other hand, imports are expected to grow by 4.3 percent. De Guindos said they had been cautious when calculating the new forecasts, but they expected these figures to be surpassed.
Meanwhile, the government also announced that civil servants salary will be increased by 1 percent and the cultural VAT will fall from 21 percent to 10 percent for live shows, including dance shows, theater or bullfighting but not cinemas.
The cultural VAT had increased to 21 percent in 2012 to reduce the public deficit and the sector has been demanding a fall since then.
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