“We predict positive growth in both the third and the fourth quarter,” she said during an interview with radio Onda Cero.

The Spanish economy slumped into recession during the second half of 2008 as the global financial meltdown compounded the collapse of a property bubble. It stabilised in 2010 but growth remains anaemic.

Economic output grew 0.2 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, after a 0.3-percent expansion in the first quarter.