MADRID, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Spain revised up the country's 2018 economic forecast to 2.7 percent, according to an economic bulletin published by the bank on Tuesday.

The figure is 0.3 percent higher than the last economic prediction published by the entity.

The bank predicted that in 2019 the country's economy would grow by 2.3 percent and by 2.1 percent in 2020, which meant a 0.2 percent rise and a 0.1 percent increase respectively when compared with the last predictions.

It emphasized that Spain's economy was performing better than expected, pointing out exports, the political situation and budgetary policy as some of the reasons for the improvement.

The bank also said that domestic demand would continue to boost growth although it warned that its contribution to the country's GDP would slightly slow down in the coming years.

Regarding employment, the bank predicted a 2.7 percent rise this year, a 2 percent increase in 2019 and a 1.9 percent growth in 2020.

Spain's unemployment rate would slow down to 15.1 percent in 2018, to 13.3 percent in 2019 and to 11 percent by the end of 2020, it said.

The bank noted there were still some reforms to be carried out in order to improve productivity, reduce structural unemployment and population ageing.