Private consumer spending rose 8.5% in the Balearic Islands in the third quarter year-on-year

Final consumption in the Balearic Islands increased by 8.5% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020. This figure implies that the recovery of consumption is well above that registered in the whole of Spain, which According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), it rises only 1.5% in the same period.

In this way, this indicator already has two quarters with positive year-on-year growth in the Balearic Islands. Thus, with the data up to the third quarter of 2021, private consumption has already practically recovered the value lost during the central months of the pandemic (it is only –1.2% below). A variable that is directly related to final consumption is spending and cash withdrawals made with a card at the terminals. In the third quarter, this amount increased 64.3% year-on-year (reaching € 4,948 million), both in the case of cards issued abroad (€ 2,184 million, + 27.8% more) and in the domestic case (€ 2,764 M, an increase of 112.2%).

Compared to the third quarter of 2019, spending in July, August and September is already 3.4% higher, thanks to spending by Spaniards (+ 13.7%), since that of foreigners is still below (- 7.1%).

Considering the aggregate of the three quarters of 2021, the expenditure made is 42.0% higher than that of the same quarters of 2020, but it is still -12.5% below that of 2019.

It should be noted that private household consumption is the main component of domestic demand, weighing close to 60% of GDP as a whole. Given the importance of this macroeconomic magnitude, the General Directorate of Economic Model and Employment prepares the synthetic indicator of final consumption of the Balearic Islands, which is quarterly and uses the evolution of the main series related to this component.