Spain's economy will grow by about 2.8 percent this year and by around three percent in 2005, Spanish Economy Minister Pedro Solbes forecast in an interview published on Sunday.
Asked by ABC newspaper whether Spain's new Socialist government had revised growth forecasts to take account of the high oil price, Solbes said: "In 2005 we will grow by around three percent and this year the figures may be a little lower, around 2.8 percent."
Spain's previous Popular Party government, ousted by the Socialists in March 14 elections, had forecast the Spanish economy would grow by three percent both this year and next.
Solbes' 2.8 percent forecast for Spanish gross domestic product growth this year is identical to those of the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.
The Bank of Spain estimated last week that Spain's year-on-year growth picked up to 2.8 percent in the first quarter from 2.7 percent in the last quarter of 2003.
Spanish GDP grew by 2.4 percent in 2003 as a whole - its 10th consecutive year of expansion - compared with 2.0 percent growth in 2002.
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