The Madrid economy has been growing more than the Catalan economy for years: 14.9% compared to 12.2% between 2015 and 2022. This week, the Bank of Spain has published INE data on the growth of both communities at constant prices , that is, discounted inflation. What is called GDP in volume. In this case, the difference in growth between both communities is larger: 7.5% in Madrid compared to 2.8% in Catalonia.
Although it is a statistic (GDP in volume) that some economists such as Guillem López Casasnovas question whether it can be used to compare disparate economic regions, it is one more figure for debate. And it gives clues about how each of the economies works. Sources from the Department of Economy, directed by Natàlia Mas, point out that the reason must be sought in the deflator, the index used to calculate the price variation suffered by the GDP. According to Economia, “the deflator has been greater in Catalonia than in Madrid for the composition of the Catalan productive structure and the products used to produce.”
The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce points out that “the growth of the GDP deflator in Catalonia (9.4%) has been greater than in Madrid (7.5%)” between 2015 and 2021. According to the Chamber’s calculations, led by Joan Ramon Rovira, “industry and construction account for 48% of the difference in the GDP deflator between Catalonia and Madrid between 2015 and 2021”.
The professor of Applied Economics at the UAB Josep Oliver highlights that in Madrid the weight (not counting prices) of the professional, financial and information sectors is 28.5% while in Catalonia it is 16.2%. . On the opposite side, the industry – more affected by the rise in prices – weighs more in the Catalan community than in Madrid: 18.1% compared to 9.9%.
Economy sources add that, in any case, “the nominal GDP (with a built-in deflator) is the basic reference” and not the chained or volume one. It is the one used for “most of the issues we analyze: investment effort in R&D, debt over GDP, fiscal pressure and it is the international standard.” And they add that “the GDP growth in the two communities is permanently distorted by the capital effect and the vacuum effect that Madrid exerts on the rest of the territories.” The Department of Economy insists that “the fact that, since 2013, 121% of the State budget has been executed in Madrid while in Catalonia only 61% has been executed is not neutral.” Councilor Mas has explained on several occasions that “it is heroic that in this context Catalonia’s GDP has remained invariably at 19% of the Spanish total for decades, while other territories lost weight.”
