Isha Sesay
THE Government of the Balearic Islands has announced that is has seen its biggest ever drop in gross domestic product (GDP).
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Tourism and Labour Minister, Iago Negueruela, revealed the bleak news.
According to the latest figures, in the second quarter of 2020, during the months of April, May and June, the Balearic GDP fell by a whopping 40.5%.
This is the biggest drop recorded in the region’s history and higher than anywhere else in Spain.
Negueruela attributed this ‘unprecedented loss’ to the Balearic Island’s reliance on tourism which has been ‘deeply impacted by the coronavirus crisis.’
This he notes has also affected the Canary Islands, another region with a strong dependence on tourism, whose GDP fell by 36% over the same period.
With the de-escalation phases not commencing until May and the opening of borders not until the end of June, April and May were complete ‘write offs’ for international tourism.
“The collapse of GDP is a consequence of marking zero against the most important activity of the region, international tourism,” said Negueruela.
The Minister explained that all other sectors depend equally on this one factor, so ‘it is not surpirsing to have seen this serious knock on effect.’
Looking at the drop in GDP by islands, the Pitiusas, which is made up of Ibiza and Formentera, suffered the worst with 41.7%.
This was followed by Menorca with -41.7% and then Mallorca with -39.3%.
The Balearic financial decline was also much higher than that recorded in the whole of Spain, which saw a loss of 22.1%, as well as the European Union with an average drop of 14.1%.
Meanwhile, a total of 73,753 people were registered as unemployed in the Balearic Islands in the month of August.
This represents 89.8% more than in the same month last year when just 34,912 were unemployed.
