CdM| After a first quarter in which the economy showed no progress, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the eurozone recorded growth of 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the preliminary estimate published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 0.6% in the euro zone.
For its part, in the European Union (EU) as a whole, compared with the previous quarter, GDP remained stable, while it advanced by 0.5% compared with the second quarter of last year.
By country, Ireland (3.3%), Lithuania (2.8%) and Slovenia (1.4%) recorded the strongest rates of expansion between April and June. By contrast, Poland (-3.7%), Sweden (-1.5%) and Latvia (-0.6%) suffered the biggest economic contractions.
Among the large eurozone economies, Spain’s growth slowed to 0.4%, while Germany stagnated, France grew by 0.5% and Italy recorded a 0.3% decline.
“We expect a significant slowdown in eurozone GDP growth in the third quarter,” say analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics, “in line with softer survey data, a decline in nominal inflation-adjusted money, tighter credit standards and weaker investment demand”.
