Andalusian GDP grows above Spanish average mostly thanks to services sector

Economy

The region has evaded the economic slowdown and matched the growth of previous quarters

Cristina Vallejo

The Andalusian economy grew by 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, according to preliminary figures the regional insitute of statistics (IECA) published on Wednesday. This surpasses the growth recorded for Spain as a whole, which stood at 2.7%, as the national institute of statistics (INE) reported on 30 April.

A few days ago, the independent authority for fiscal responsibility (AIReF) also published its GDP estimate for Spanish regions for the first quarter of the year, allowing a comparison between Andalucía and the rest of the country.

Andalucía is the third fastest-growing region in Spain in the first quarter, behind Valencia (3.2%) and Madrid (3.1%). Asturias lagged behind, with growth limited to 1.9%.

Andalucía has evaded the economic slowdown. Geopolitical turbulence seems to be barely affecting the regional economy, which, with its 2.8% year-on-year growth, matches the fourth quarter of 2025. Prior to that, the region had been growing above 3% for seven consecutive quarters, since mid-2024.

According to recent forecasts by Loyola University, Andalusian GDP is expected to close this year with a growth of 2.5%. Estimates of economic analysts at the end of 2025 pointed to a growth limited to 2% in the region.

By sector, construction led the growth, with a year-on-year rate of 5.1%. This contributed three-tenths of a percentage point to the rise in regional GDP. Industry maintained momentum in the first part of 2026, growing at a rate of 4.9%, after having accumulated at least three consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. Manufacturing accounted for five-tenths of a percentage point of Andalusian GDP growth during this period.

The data confirms that the services sector remains the leader of Andalusian economy, given its dominance over the region's productive structure. Although its growth was limited to 3.6% (lower than that recorded by construction and industry), its contribution to GDP growth was 2.4%.

The services sector, in contrast to what happened with industry and construction, has accelerated its growth rate, given that in the immediately preceding quarters it did not register rates that approached 3%.

The services sector offers a wide variety of activities and the IECA divides them into several categories. Information and communications stood out in the first quarter, growing at a year-on-year rate of 11.5%, followed by trade, transport and hospitality, with an increase of 5.8%. Professional activities came in third (4.8%) and artistic, recreational and other service activities ranked fourth (2.6%). Somewhat behind were real estate (1.5%), the contribution of public administration, health and education (1.5%) and financial and insurance activities (1.3%).

Although agriculture bore the brunt of the quarter, experiencing a 5% drop, greater than that of the fourth quarter of 2025 (-4.1%), the primary sector had a negative impact of three-tenths of a percentage point on Andalucía's GDP in the first quarter of 2026.

Quarterly variation

In quarterly terms (comparing the end of December 2025 with that of March 2026), the Andalusian economy grew at a rate of 0.7%, also one-tenth of a percentage point higher than Spain as a whole (0.6%).

In this case, the AIReF disagrees, calculating Andalucía's quarterly expansion at 0.6%, identical to the Spanish figure, lower than Madrid (0.8%), Murcia and the Balearic Islands (both 0.7%) and same as the Basque Country, Galicia, Navarre, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias, La Rioja and Catalonia.

According to IECA data, Andalucía has been growing at quarterly rates of 0.7% for three consecutive quarters.

In this case, the primary sector, construction and services grew compared to the previous quarter (2.3% for the first and an identical 1.3% for the other two), while industry shrank by 3.9%.