Spanish economy not to return to pre-COVID levels until 2024: economist

STORY: Spanish economy not to return to pre-COVID levels until 2024: economist DATELINE: Feb. 14, 2023 LENGTH: 00:02:46 LOCATION: Madrid CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. SOUNDBITE (English): OMAR RECHEDI, Professor of economics at Esade Business School STORYLINE: The Spanish economy will continue to grow during 2023 but the recovery will not be quick and it won't return to pre-COVID levels until 2024, an economist from the Esade Business School told Xinhua in an interview. SOUNDBITE (English): OMAR RECHEDI, Professor of economics at Esade Business School "The predictions of the central bank of Spain are for growth of the Spanish economy in 2023 of around 1.2 percent. So what this means is that the Spanish economy will recover to the level of economic activity that it had previously to COVID only in 2024. To some extent, there are mixed results. On one hand, much weaker growth notwithstanding the strong numbers, and on the other hand, the optimism that the economy has been able to withstand the negative shoc