Spanish service providers saw a much faster rise in business activity in February, supported by accelerated growth of new orders. Higher workloads and business optimism contributed to continued job creation. On the price front, the rate of input cost inflation remained elevated but companies continued to raise their output prices only marginally.

The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index rose markedly to 57.7 in February from 54.2 in January, thereby signalling a much faster rate of growth in services activity than was seen at the start of the year. Moreover, the rate of expansion was the strongest since August 2015. Rising client demand and greater commercial activity were mentioned as factors driving the expansion of output.