The Spanish economy grew by 2.5 percent in 2018, 0.5 percent less than in 2017, the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported on Thursday.

The figure represented the lowest increase rate since 2014, although the Spanish gross domestic product (GDP) growth was above European average, higher than that of Germany and France.

"The fact that the GDP growth has slowed down is not worrying," said Nadia Calvino, Minister of Economy and Business, emphasizing that Spain has continued to grow above the European Union average.

The 2.5 percent growth coincides with the Bank of Spain forecast, but the government had projected a 2.6 percent growth for 2018.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the Spanish economy grew by 0.7 percent, which means it had grown for 21 consecutive quarters.

The economy cycle implies that "growth will gradually slow down," said Calvino, noting that Spain has made a good start in 2019.

The minister explained that most institutions had forecasted that the potential growth of the Spanish economy is between 1 percent and 2 percent, so in the long term growth "would be at 1.5 percent".

The financial crisis of 2008 caused a long economic recession in Spain. The Spanish economy restarted its growth in the third quarter of 2013.