IBERSOL | Integrated Management Report 2022

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK Prolonged economic stagnation For 2023, the IMF and ECB forecast growth of less than 1% in Europe, due to the exceptional conditions of uncertainty at international level. In turn, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) predicts a strong cooling of the national economy, with private consumption practically stagnating in 2023 and growing only about 1% per year on average throughout the period to 2025. According to the BdP, this scenario of a very low increase in private consumption is associated with the lower finan- cial cushion of families (mainly due to inflation and the rise in inter- est rates), the increase in debt service and low consumer confidence. The additional reduction in the savings rate contributes to contain the slowdown of private consumption. As for public consumption, and de- spite the expected acceleration in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan projects, it should gradually decelerate after a 2% increase in 2022. In Spain, the economic situation is slightly more fa- vourable, with the pre-pandemic GDP level expected to be reached in the second half of 2023 and growth expected to be between 1.5% and 2% per year until 2024. The Ibersol Group keeps a close watch on the evolution of the en- tire economic environment in which it operates. Besides the impacts on purchasing power and consumption habits, prolonged periods of weak economic growth are also associated with lower market confi- dence, lower levels of investment and a possible shortage of services and production resources. In this sense, the Group maintains close collaboration with the brands it represents, in terms of establishing growth and realistic expansion objectives in the markets where it op- erates. To ensure compliance with its medium and long-term business plans, the Ibersol Group has specialised teams dedicated to managing the expansion and refurbishing projects of its restaurant units. 74