Activity in the Spanish services sector grew at its fastest pace in 10 months in February, its fourth straight month of expansion, spurred by higher demand even though inflationary pressures remained a concern, a survey showed on Friday.

S&P Global's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for Spain's services sector, which accounts for around half of Spanish economic output, rose to 56.7 last month from 52.7 in January, well above the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction.

"Expansions in activity and new business were sharp and the fastest in 10 and 15 months, respectively, while employment growth was sustained for a fifth consecutive month," S&P Global's economist Laura Denman said.

Although respondents were strongly upbeat about output over the next 12 months, with the degree of confidence at its highest in a year, she said it was "difficult not to be wary about the longevity of the current sector trajectory" due to stubbornly high input price and output charge inflation.

A sister survey of Spanish factory activity in February, released on Wednesday, showed an expansion for the first time since June as demand started to improve.

Still, Spain's economic growth is expected to slow down this year to around 1.4%-1.6% from the stronger-than-expected expansion rate of 5.5% recorded in 2022. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Toby Chopra)