Wednesday’s chart: the euro zone holds its GDP, Germany willing

It was Germany, with a 0.5 percent growth of GDP in the first quarter of this year, that helped the euro zone avoid enter technical recession territory. GDP remained stable in both the euro are and the EU during January to March of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP remained stable in the euro area and increased by 0.1% in the EU in the first quarter of 2012.

But looking into the picture, the causes for the solid performance of the German economy are not exactly hopeful. The keys were exports to non-euro markets and its domestic consumption. As for the rest of the euro neighbours, a few remarks can be made about this graph sent in via AFI economists in Madrid: while Spain downward trend remains under control, and Portugal improves in the company of Belgium and the Netherlands, France loses ground and Italy falls further with the biggest negative figure of all.

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The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.

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