MADRID, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Spain's economy picked up pace in the final quarter of 2025, resulting in an estimated 2.8% growth last year, far outperforming its European peers, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product expanded by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, accelerating from a 0.6% increase in the previous three-month period, according to INE's flash estimate. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product to grow 0.6% quarter-on-quarter.
Sustained domestic demand and higher household consumption thanks to workers' rising purchasing power - as well as a larger workforce due to an influx of migrants - have helped Spain outpace the euro zone's major economies in recent years.
Current data or projections show an estimated annual growth of 0.9% for France, 0.4% for Italy and 0.2% for Germany.
"This is good news not only for 2025 but also because of what it means for 2026, because growth accelerated towards the end of the year," Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo told state broadcaster TVE.
He added that preliminary GDP figures for January continued to be robust, which should help achieve the government's 2.2% growth target for this year.
Spain's full-year growth still represented a slowdown from 2024's 3.2% due in part to global trade tensions.
On an annual basis, Spain's fourth-quarter economic output expanded 2.6%, slightly below the average estimate of 2.7% in the Reuters poll. Third-quarter GDP growth was revised down to 2.7% from 2.8%.
(Reporting by David Latona and Gemma Guasch; Editing by Andrei Khalip)
