Spain economy to reach 2 percent year-on-year growth rate in fourth quarter - central bank

MADRID (Reuters) - Recent data in Spain points to a year-on-year economic growth rate of close to 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, Bank of Spain Governor Luis Maria Linde told parliament on Thursday.

Linde said growth would slow slightly in the rest of this year, though a recovery after a deep recession would continue.

"That will allow the year-on-year growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) to come close to 2 percent in the last quarter, a rate at which, on average, the Spanish economy could grow in the whole of 2015," Linde said.

The central bank forecasts that the economy will grow 1.3 percent as a whole in 2014, in line with revised government projections.

(Reporting by Sarah White, Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary)