The largest power outage in Spanish history cost the national economy almost 400 million euros ($454 million). According to UNN, citing Bloomberg, this estimate of losses was made by the country's largest bank, CaixaBank SA.
Details
Consumer spending by Spanish households fell by 34% on April 28, when most of mainland Spain suffered an hours-long power outage, according to an initial estimate by CaixaBank SA. The analysis is based on payment card usage data, online shopping volumes and ATM cash withdrawals. The volume of funds movement in these areas during the power outage was only 15% of the usual volume under normal conditions.
We estimate that the power outage will affect quarterly GDP by less than one-tenth of a percentage point, approximately within 400 million euros
The outage began at approximately 12:30 p.m. local time, leaving nearly 50 million people across Spain and Portugal without electricity and related services. The Spanish government is still investigating the exact causes of the outage, which disrupted public transportation, telecommunications and retail.
According to preliminary forecasts announced at the beginning of this year, the Spanish economy will grow by 2.6% this year and 2.2% in 2026. The country has shown remarkable performance among the largest eurozone countries in recent years.
Bloomberg Economics believes that the cost of the immediate consequences of the power outage will be approximately 0.5% of quarterly GDP. But it believes that some of these losses are likely to be recovered in the coming days and weeks.
Reminder
The railway incident in Spain occurred just a week after a large-scale blackout on the Iberian Peninsula on April 28, from which the country is still recovering.