The GDP of the Canary Islands registered an increase of 6.1% throughout the year 2021 in relation to the previous year. Meanwhile, at the state level, the increase was 5%, according to provisional data published by the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (Istac), completing the provisional accounting for last year with data from the fourth quarter.
The final data for the year will be known at the end of the current year. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Canary Islands recorded the best data of 2021 in the second quarter, when the increase was 26.2%, due to the confinement effect. The fourth quarter has the second highest growth (9.7%), almost double that recorded by the State.
The Canarian Vice President and Minister of Finance, Budgets and European Affairs, Román Rodríguez, in this "positive" reading of the report, recalled that the latest data known at the end of 2021 already pointed in the same direction, with a significant reduction in unemployment and a notable increase in affiliations to Social Security. "If the labor market is revitalized and, at the same time, tax revenues experience an improvement, as has also happened, we are faced with irrefutable proof that the Canarian economy is regaining its strength."
Rodríguez also highlighted that the increase in GDP registered in 2021 is close to the estimate reflected for that year, in the central scenario of the General Budget Law of the Autonomous Community of 2022 proposed by the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, the department in charge of the macroeconomic forecast. This approximation occurs even despite the impact of the fifth wave of Covid-19 and the start of the sixth last year, contingencies that were logically unforeseeable when the forecast of the evolution of the economy in the Canary Islands was made.
All sectors have experienced growth during the fourth quarter of the year, except for construction. The service sector stands out in this section, with an increase of 11.5%, followed by agriculture (4.5%) and industry (4.0%). Construction decreased by 1.5%.
