Spain's central bank on Tuesday raised its 2015 growth forecast for the country to 3.2 percent, further strengthening the outlook for recovery in the eurozone's fourth biggest economy.
UPDATED: Illegal activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution boosted Spain's gross domestic product by €9 billion ($11.5 billion) in 2013, official figures released on Thursday show.
The German economy tripped up in the second quarter, registering negative growth of 0.2 percent, some way behind the 0.6 per cent growth clocked up by Spain in the same period.
Spain is soon to start including estimated revenues from drug trafficking and the sex trade when calculating its gross domestic product (GDP), a move expected to boost economic results, officials said on Thursday.
Spain's economy performed more poorly in 2012 than previously reported with the country's national statistics institute (the INE) revising down its gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure to –1.6 percent.
Spain's recession eased in the second quarter, official data showed on Tuesday, as booming exports helped to offset weak domestic demand in the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy.
The European Commission announced on Friday that it believed Spain would fall short of the deficit targets set by the ruling Popular Party government of Mariano Rajoy for 2013 and 2014.
