Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in real terms, registered a year-on-year rate of change of 7.1% in the second quarter of 2022 (11.8% in the previous quarter). It should be highlighted that the GDP evolution in year-on year terms partly reflects a base effect, as several measures to mitigate the pandemic were in place in the first quarter of 2021, partially restricting economic activity. The contribution of domestic demand to the year on year rate of change of GDP decreased in the second quarter of 2022, moving from 10.0 percentage points to 3.7, with a less intense growth of private consumption and investment. The positive contribution of net external demand to the year-on-year rate of change of GDP increased to 3.5 percentage points (1.7 in the previous quarter), as a result of the more pronounced acceleration of Exports of Goods and Services compared to Imports of Goods and Services. In the second quarter, the implicit prices of the flows of external trade increased significantly, accelerating more in exports than in imports due to the components of services, determining a less intense loss of terms of trade compared to the previous quarter. The effect of the evolution of the terms of trade, together with the positive volume effect, resulted in an improvement in the External Balance of Goods and Services in nominal terms, standing at -2.2% of GDP (-3.6% of GDP in the first quarter).
Compared to the first quarter of 2022, GDP registered a nil rate of change in volume, after a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 2.5% in the previous quarter, with a contribution of -1.1 percentage points from domestic demand (+2.1 percentage points in the first quarter), while the positive contribution of net external demand increased from 0.4 percentage points to 1.1, reflecting the more pronounced growth of Exports of Goods and Services than that of Imports of Goods and Services.
In the second quarter, employment (measured in number of individuals and seasonally adjusted) for all sectors of economic activity grew by 1.8% in year-on-year terms (4.4% in the previous quarter), while the number of employees increased by 2.8% in the second quarter (4.6% in the previous quarter).