Eurozone1 (EA15) GDP - gross domestic product - fell by 0.2% and by 0.1% in the EU271 during the second quarter of 2008, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union. In the first quarter of 2008, growth rates were +0.7% in both the Eurozone and the EU27.
Earlier today, it was reported that Germany and France, the Eurozone's two biggest economies, shrank in the second quarter as slowing sales hit business investment and rising inflation reduced consumer spending power. German gross domestic product fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the first quarter, when it rose a revised 1.3% while in France, GDP declined 0.3%, compared with a 0.4% gain in the previous three-month period.
Spain, grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and up 1.8% in the 12 months to June 2008, the Bank of Spain said today.
Last week, Italy reported that GDP contracted 0.3% percent quarter-on-quarter.
Eurostat said that compared with the second quarter of 2007, seasonally adjusted GDP grew by 1.5% in the
Eurozone and by 1.7% in the EU27 in the second quarter of 2008, after +2.1% and +2.3% respectively in the previous quarter.
During the second quarter of 2008, US GDP increased by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter, after +0.2% in the first quarter. In Japan GDP decreased by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2008 (+0.8% in the previous quarter). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP rose by 1.8% in the US (+2.5% in the previous quarter) and by 1.0% in Japan (+1.2% in the previous quarter).
1. The Eurozone (EA15) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland.
The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
Summary quality information
European quarterly national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA95). The flash estimate of 2008 Q2 GDP growth presented in this release is based on Member States’ data as available, directly covering 95% of EA15 GDP (91% of EU27 GDP).
Simulations and previously published flash estimates have shown the flash estimation procedure to be reliable. Over the last 30 quarters, the flash estimate of GDP growth on the previous quarter for the Eurozone (EA12) when compared to the following first regular release has led to an average revision of less than 0.01 percentage points. It correctly anticipated the acceleration or deceleration of growth 26 times. The value of the growth rate was correctly anticipated 25 times and differed by ±0.1 percentage points 5 times.
With this flash estimate, Eurozone and EU GDP figures for earlier quarters are not revised, so the growth rates till the first quarter 2008, remain unchanged. All figures presented in this release are subject to further revision with the two regular estimates of GDP for the second quarter 2008, scheduled for 3 September 2008 and 8 October 2008. First estimates for National Accounts employment in the second quarter 2008 are scheduled for 12 September 2008.
