Head of Spanish Central Bank expects lower growth for his country

Spain's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to be slower than expected this year, the central bank chief said in an interview published on Sunday, with any faster growth contingent on a swift introduction of the vaccine. The Bank of Spain had said the economy would grow 6.8% in 2021 and reach pre-pandemic levels next year. However, Pablo Hernandez de Cos, the governor of the Bank of Spain, told El Mundo newspaper that this year's GDP was likely to be lower. "I believe we will revise our forecasts for the Spanish economy slightly downwards for this year due to the deterioration seen in the first part of the year," he said. "We expect a more intense recovery from the second half of the year, but the exact timing and intensity will depend in large part on the rapid distribution of vaccines." De Cos said Europe's recovery depends on the speed with which the vaccine program is launched, but it is lagging behind. The Spanish economy would not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, he said. "We expect this for the euro zone in mid-2022. For Spain, we are postponing the point in time when the Spanish economy will return to the level of 2019 in our central scenario to 2023," he added.