Catalan crisis ‘has cost Spanish economy €1bn’

Spain’s foreign minister says the Catalan independence crisis has cost the country €1billion (£890,000).

Luis de Guindos said a slowdown in growth in Catalonia, which accounts for around a fifth of Spanish GDP, was hampering the eurozone’s fourthlargest economy as a whole.

“Catalonia used to have growth above that of Spain, it was one of the drivers of the Spanish economy,” he told Spanish radio. “However, in the fourth quarter, it’s become a burden.”

De Guindos estimated the crisis could “easily have cost a billion euros”.