More bad news for the Spanish economy: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed growth forecasts for its economy in 2021 and 2022. In fact, the IMF already downgraded its growth expectations for this year in early autumn. Now, however, it has also cut next year's. Specifically, the international body has set the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) for this year at 4.6%, 1.1 points less than the October forecasts. As for next year, the agency estimates that the economy will grow by 5.8%, in this case six tenths less than the figure it gave just two months ago.

First it was the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE), then the OECD and now the Bank of Spain: all three have reduced their growth expectations for the Spanish economy in 2021 and 2022. The Bank of Spain estimates a 4.5% growth of gross domestic product (GDP) for this year, coinciding with the OECD, almost two points under the September forecast (6.3%). As for next year, the agency estimates that the economy will grow by 5.4%, four tenths less than expected in September. In this case, the downward revision is more moderate.

The Catalan economy moderated its growth rate in the third quarter of 2021, despite maintaining an upward trend. Between the months of July and September this year, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Catalonia increased by 0.7% over the previous quarter, a figure significantly lower than the 3.3% recorded between April and June, according to data released Friday by Idescat, the Generalitat's statistical agency. Compared to the third quarter of 2021, the Catalan economy grew by 3.4%.

The macroeconomic data with which this week ends mark a turning point. The way out of the crisis is beginning to gain momentum, even solidity. The recovery is moving from wishful thinking to reality. If Thursday the Labour Force Survey (EPA) came loaded with positive data for the labour market, with a fall, in the Catalan case, of 21,200 fewer unemployed people and an unemployment rate that stood at 12.28% (Spanish data were also good), this Friday the National Institute of State Statistics has advanced the gross domestic product (GDP), which, despite some issues, remains the main indicator to measure the economy: and again there are figures for optimism. State GDP grew by 2.8% over the first three months of 2021, and in comparison with a year earlier, that is, with the second quarter of 2020, when the economy experienced a sharp fall due to the strictest lockdown, the climb is 19.8%, one of the strongest ever recorded.

The Spanish economy recovered growth in the second quarter of the year. The gross domestic product (GDP) - the indicator that measures the size of an economy - of the State grew by 2.8% compared to the first three months of 2021 and thus returned to positive figures, according to preliminary data advanced this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). In the first quarter, GDP fell by 0.4%.

Barcelona's Chamber of Commerce's economic report for 2020 is the bleakest in its 50-year history. Presented this Friday, it shows Catalonia has registered the most intense fall in GDP among the main European countries (-11.6%), almost double the average in the euro zone (-6.6%). Even so, the various people responsible for drawing up this report are convinced that on the other side of the balance there is a recovery so pronounced that it will place Catalonia among the economies that will grow the most between this year and the next. Their only reservation is the effect recent covid-19 outbreaks and recommendations not to travel to Catalonia from its main tourist markets may have.

A new economic, political and social cycle is beginning. The events of recent weeks suggest that things are beginning to change. The climate is one of political détente, of gestures to prepare the ground for dialogue. With the pandemic on its last legs - from the 26th we will be able to take off our face masks outdoors - the time is clearly ripe for an economic upturn. No one expects miracles, but after the coronavirus disaster, three years of turbulence in the streets and instability in the institutions in Barcelona and Madrid, this new beginning is a breath of fresh air. And we must take advantage of it, first of all to relieve people's worries - the social precariousness is worrying - to encourage business activity and to bring the sovereignty conflict back to the political arena.