Spain to revise down 2021 growth forecast after tough first quarter

"We leave behind a tough first quarter of the year, and that’s the main reason why we are going to revise downwards our forecast of this year," she said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

"We were expecting to have around 7% growth this year. It may be smaller due to the delay, one quarter delay in terms of the recovery," she added.

All indicators for March were positive, Calvino said, and even though the second quarter will be a transition quarter, the second half of the year will experience "a very strong rebound".

Currently, the government projects a 7.2% rebound this year after output dropped by 11% in 2020, but the central bank and other analysts expect slower growth.