TheFènix Report, prepared by several renowned economists, has opened the debate on whether the Catalan economy is doing well or not. The study has caused controversy due to criticism of some productive sectors such as tourism and the meat industry, which it considers to be indirectly "subsidized", and for criticism of economic growth based on immigration rather than increased productivity of companies and workers.

The large presence of multinationals – particularly, North American pharmaceutical companies – in Ireland's economy inflates the country's weight compared to its European Union partners, to the point that the adaptation of these companies to the tariffs imposed by the United States government has led the entire European economy to register negative growth rates in the first quarter of this year.

The Airef, the independent body that controls public finances, warns that the debt write-off for autonomous communities will be "flawed" if not accompanied by a reform of the regional financing system. The president of Airef, Inés Olóndriz, has argued that "the logical course of action" would be: first, "realistic objectives", second, the reform of the financing system, and third, "measures to alleviate debt".

The Spanish economy held its ground in the first quarter of this year, despite the negative impact caused by the outbreak of the war in Iran and the consequences on energy markets and international trade. Household spending allowed the gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) of the State to maintain the good figures of the last three years, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported this Thursday.

Philippe Aghion (Paris, 1956) won last year the Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the impact of technology and innovation on economic development. Aghion, a professor at the prestigious Collège de France, Insead, and London School of Economics, currently focuses his work on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in growth and how Europe can improve its policies to reduce dependence on Chinese and American tech giants.

The Spanish economy is holding its ground despite the war in the Middle East, or at least that's what the Bank of Spain projects. The supervisory body estimates that it will grow by 2.3% in 2026 and 1.7% in 2027, as published this Thursday, thus maintaining the growth forecast from last March unchanged. At that time, however, only a few weeks had passed since the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran had passed since the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran. However, despite seeming to save face in a context of strong global uncertainty, there are some "structural problems" that could shake economic activity in the State, among which, once again, access to housing stands out: "It can lead to significant macroeconomic and social effects," according to the Annual Report of 2025Annual Report of 2025 published this Thursday by the supervisory body.

The Federal Reserve (the Fed, the central bank of the United States) has decided to keep interest rates unchanged, despite the rising cost of living in recent months, the agency reported in a statement released this Wednesday. The meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the internal body that makes monetary policy decisions) held between Tuesday and Wednesday was the first chaired by Kevin Warsh, who has aligned himself only partially with the requests of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who since his return to the White House had demanded a cut in the price of money to boost economic growth.

The Catalan economy maintained growth figures above the European average in the first quarter of this year, mainly thanks to the consumption of foreign tourists and the strength of the services sector. The outbreak of the war in Iran, therefore, did not have a significant initial impact on the country's economic activity.

The cost of living in Catalonia moderated last May despite the upward pressures of fuel costs on family economies caused by the energy crisis derived from the war in Iran. Nevertheless, the measures approved by the Spanish government to cut taxes on electricity and natural gas curbed price increases.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to make a move to try to curb the rise in inflation caused by the war in the Middle East initiated by the United States and Israel. The rate of price increase in the eurozone has been moving away from Frankfurt's goal of keeping it at 2% annually for months, and finally, the financial institution has decided to act to prevent this percentage from growing further and has raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.25%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been holding its fire for months. It did not want to make a misstep and prematurely use the main tool at its disposal to curb inflation caused by the war in Iran initiated by the United States and Israel. However, the price increase remains upward and is moving further and further away from the goal of keeping it at an annual rate of 2%. For this reason, experts and markets anticipate that the body led by Christine Lagarde has already loaded its ammunition and will raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.25%, at this Thursday's meeting.

If in a country the central bank governor has to publicly deny having carried out a covert coup d'état to overthrow a democratic government, it is logical to think that the country may have a problem with its central bank – and with the governor in question. This is exactly what Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, had to do in November 2022, following the resignation of Liz Truss as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, only 44 days after taking office. As if Truss's bad luck were not enough, during her brief term, Queen Elizabeth II died.

The Spanish economy will maintain a "robust" growth rate despite the conflict in the Middle East and international uncertainty, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, the institution that groups the world's advanced economies). The economic body has revised its growth forecast for Spain in 2026 upwards by one tenth, to 2.2%, in line with the estimate maintained by the Spanish government.

The Russian economy has faced pessimistic forecasts since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when a large part of Western countries gradually imposed all kinds of industrial and financial sanctions on it. Despite this, Moscow's narrative had been that the country's economy was holding up well to the economic shock, partly thanks to public investment and industrial activity resulting from the war, which offset the impact of the sanctions.

A harsh report on the state of the Catalan economy, prepared by several economists, criticizes the country's productive structure because several business sectors end up being, de facto, "highly subsidized" by the rest of the economic fabric. This current model has represented an "impoverishment" of Catalan society and a continuous loss of productivity of the business fabric compared to Europe in the last 25 years. "The country is bleeding out," summarized the report's coordinator, executive and engineer Xavier Roig.

The Catalan economy will slow its growth this year, accompanied by an increase in prices, if the armed conflict in the Middle East is maintained or worsens, according to the economic forecasts of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.

The positive momentum of the Catalan economy will offset the geopolitical uncertainty caused by the war in Iran and the trade tensions over tariffs from the President of the United States, Donald Trump. According to the latest macroeconomic scenario for Catalonia, published this Monday by the Department of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat, Catalan gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) will grow by 2.3% in 2026, in line with the forecasts for the Spanish economy and above the main economies of the euro area. Similarly, the Govern expects around 100,000 jobs to be created over the next two years and for the employment rate to fall to 8.3% in 2027.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls on governments to implement "temporary" policies to protect their economies from the energy shock caused by the war in Iran, with special emphasis on protecting the most "vulnerable" segments of the population, according to the April report of Fiscal Monitor, which the economic body publishes semi-annually. In the study, the IMF warns that some countries —such as many members of the European Union, China, or the United States, among others— have limited room to maneuver to carry out public policies to support the economy due to the high levels of public debt they have accumulated in recent years and low growth levels.

The impact of the war in the Middle East reduces global economic growth by two tenths for this year. While in the latest report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – published in January – an impulse of 3.3% was projected globally, after the outbreak of the conflict and the derivative of the energy crisis, an advance of 3.1% is now forecast. The entity's forecast is based on the assumption that the war will be resolved by mid-year, but the organization also presents two more adverse scenarios in which the impact of the conflict would be even greater: an intermediate one in which the economy would be reduced by eight tenths, to 2.5%, and the worst, in which global growth would fall to 2%. The new forecast also assumes three tenths less growth than registered during 2025, when it grew by 3.4%.

The Catalan economy ended 2025 with annual growth of 2.7%, one-tenth of a percentage point lower than the Spanish average, according to data published this Friday by Idescat, the Catalan government's statistical agency. Economic growth, clearly higher than the European average for another year, was driven primarily by business investment and household spending.