Catalan economy grows 2.9% year-on-year in Q3, preliminary estimate shows

Catalonia's economy grew by 2.9% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, according to a preliminary estimate released by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat).

This was one-tenth of a percentage point below the previous quarter's growth rate of 3%.

The figure was 0.2 percentage points higher than growth across Spain as a whole, which stood at 2.7%, and 1.4 percentage points above the European Union average of 1.5%.

Compared to the previous quarter, Catalonia's GDP increased by 0.7%, outpacing Spain's 0.6% growth by 0.1 percentage points and the EU's 0.5% by 0.2 percentage points.

Among the four main economic sectors, construction recorded the strongest growth, expanding by 4.3%. Services followed at 3.5%, while industry grew by 1.1% and agriculture by 0.1%.

The services sector maintained its year-on-year growth rate of 3.5%, unchanged from the previous quarter. The biggest contributions came from accommodation and food services, wholesale trade, warehousing, and programming and consultancy activities.

Industry grew by 1.1% year-on-year, down 0.1 percentage points from the second quarter, when growth reached 1.2%.

The activities making the largest contributions to the sector’s positive performance included machinery repair and installation, sanitation and waste management, textiles, and the manufacture of computer products.

Construction posted the highest growth rate of the four main sectors, at 4.3%. However, its expansion slowed from 5.4% in the previous quarter.

Agriculture recorded the weakest performance, growing by just 0.1% year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points below the 1% growth registered in the second quarter.