MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter, slightly exceeding expectations and further widening the gap with the euro zone peers whose growth remains sluggish.
Gross domestic product expanded 0.7% in the second quarter from the previous three-month period, when it grew 0.6%, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute showed on Tuesday. The growth was faster than 0.6% expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
On an annual basis, Spain's second-quarter economic
output expanded 2.8%, above the 2.5% expected by analysts.
The INE said services led the increase in activity quarter-on-quarter, mainly thanks to a surge of retail, lodging and transportation, while construction and manufacturing also rose, though agriculture contracted.
The economic growth coincided with a decline in the unemployment rate to 10.29%, in the second quarter, the lowest level since early 2008.
Spain's strong economic activity, stoked to a large extent by booming tourism, contrasts with expectations of only anaemic growth in France, Germany, Italy and the euro zone as a whole. Second-quarter data for these countries are expected to be released on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect the euro zone's GDP to have remained flat in the quarter, with the French and Italian economies seen eking out just 0.1% growth and Germany's GDP shrinking 0.1%.
The Spanish government expects a 2.6% growth this year.
(Reporting by Tiago Brandao, editing by Inti Landauro and Andrei Khalip)
