Spanish business owners’ confidence in the trajectory of their finances has reached its lowest level since 2023.
This is highlighted by the Business Confidence Indicator published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which dropped by 1.8% in the fourth quarter of this year. In fact, according to this indicator, it marks the worst fourth quarter since 2023.
Currently, 20.5% of business owners are optimistic about how their business will perform during the final stretch of the year. This figure represents a 2.5 percentage point decrease compared to the third quarter of 2026. Conversely, over the same period, pessimistic business owners increased by nearly a percentage point quarter-on-quarter, reaching 14.8%.
This is a widespread trend across Spain. Business sentiment improved in only two regions: the Canary Islands (up 2.3%, driven by the start of the tourist season) and Galicia, where business confidence saw a slight rise of 0.5%.
In all other territories, confidence declined across the board, with particularly severe drops in Murcia (a reduction of more than 5%) and Navarre (with a 4.4% slump).
With one month to go before the general election, Spanish inflation (currently at 4.9%) stands several points above the European Union (EU) average and is the highest among the euro area’s major economies. At the same time, all analysts point to a gradual slowdown in economic growth, resulting from cooling consumption, tighter financial conditions, and the end of Next Generation EU fund disbursements.
