The Government places productivity as the great challenge for the Catalan economy

BarcelonaIncrease productivity. The Government sets this as a priority in order to continue growing the Catalan economy. In the annual report published by the Department of Economy and Finance, the Generalitat points out that "despite the intense process of accumulation of physical capital and labor", the per capita income of the country is growing "more weakly than the European Union average over the last quarter of a century". "This paradox therefore points to an inefficient evolution of productivity", indicates the study, which recognizes that total factor productivity (TFP) – the reference indicator for measuring productivity – "shows a worse trajectory" than that observed in the European Union.

However, how is this situation intended to be reversed? While the Director General of Economic Analysis and Forecasting of the Generalitat, David Lizoain, has assured that in recent years the trend is beginning to "converge" with European levels, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, has highlighted talent, innovation, and company size as the most important aspects for continued improvement. Thus, Romero has emphasized how "key" it is for Catalan companies to gain volume in order to be more competitive and has assured that they are working on a series of measures for Catalan SMEs to gain size.

"Catalonia advances"

Despite the report acknowledging challenges such as productivity, this Thursday Salvador Illa boasted about the evolution of the Catalan economy in a context of "many changes" globally: "Catalonia is moving forward; we have left paralysis behind and have become active," celebrated the President of the Generalitat. Illa assured that, to achieve this, five recipes have been used: "Stability, trust, a country model, talent, and having institutions at maximum performance." "We are not interested in economic growth that only inflates statistics," indicated the President of the Generalitat, who added that "our values are not for sale to gain a few tenths of gross domestic product" (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy).

Specifically, in 2025, the growth of the Catalan economy moderated to 2.7% – it was 3.9% in 2024 – below the 2.8% of the Spanish economy, but it grew almost twice as much as the euro area average (1.4%) and exceeded expectations. By sectors, services have continued to be the main driver of the Catalan economy, followed by an acceleration in construction and the gradual recovery of the agricultural sector. The weakest growth has been recorded in the industrial sector. Furthermore, as Lizoain explained, the positive GDP growth in Catalonia is due to domestic demand, which has become the country's main growth engine.

The external sector, however, shows a negative contribution. As explained in the radiography carried out by the Generalitat, external demand was "reconfigured" due to the protectionist escalation following Donald Trump's return to the presidency of the United States. Furthermore, it is also pointed out that low wages led the recovery of purchasing power, although the losses accumulated during the inflationary crisis experienced between 2021 and 2023 have not yet been completely reversed. Looking ahead to the forecasts for 2026, the report warns that the conflict in Iran and the price shock on energy will lead to "slower" growth of 2.3%, but still "standing out" within the European context.

Housing and inequalities

In the presentation of the report, the housing situation has also been highlighted as one of the main burdens on the Catalan ecosystem. As pointed out, the high prices in the purchase and rental market work against "the recovery of wage purchasing power". For this reason, Illa has insisted that they will do "whatever it takes" to resolve the current access problem and that they will not leave this highly relevant issue solely in the hands of the market.

In parallel, although household income has grown, the report shows that it has done so unevenly, with gains highly concentrated in low-income households thanks to the revaluation of the minimum wage, benefits and pensions. However, the Government observes a rebound in poverty, especially among people born abroad, single-parent households and children. The analysis by the Department of Economy and Finance also points out how unpaid work and care tasks fall excessively on women.