 |
| Germany is the Eurozone's biggest economy: German GDP Q3 2009
|
he Eurozone economy grew in the third quarter for the first time since Q1 2008, as its biggest economies saw GDP (gross domestic product) rise on increased exports and industrial production. Germany, France and Italy, all expanded.
GDP in the 16-country common currency area rose 0.4% from the second quarter, when it fell 0.2%, the European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, said today.
However, the expansion was weaker than expected following slower growth in France.
On an annualised basis, the contraction in GDP eased to 4.1% from 4.8% in the second quarter.
Germany, the biggest economy, earlier reported that GDP in the third quarter, increased by 0.7%
and fell –4.8% on the third quarter of 2008.
In France, GDP expanded for the second straight quarter, rising 0.3%, after contracting for a year.
Exports outpaced imports, increasing 2.3%, with the result that external trade
contributed 0.4% to overall economic growth.
Italy, the region's third-biggest economy expanded for the first time since early 2008, rising 0.6% from the previous quarter, after falling a quarterly 0.5% in the April-June period.
Ireland has to yet report Q3 data.
EU27 growth was 0.2% in Q3, hit by the continued recession in the UK.
EU27 GDP was down 4.3% on Q3 2008.
During the third quarter of 2009, US GDP increased by 0.9% compared with the previous quarter, after -0.2% in the second quarter. US GDP decreased by 2.3% compared with the same quarter of the previous year (-3.8% in the previous quarter).
The Eurozone (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia 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).
Tables
