The European Union’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter, emerging from a double-dip recession caused by the covid-19 pandemic. The EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.9 percent compared to the previous three months, the European statistical office Eurostat reported. He thus confirmed the preliminary data from the end of last month.
The EU economy contracted 0.1 percent in the first quarter after declining by 0.4 percent in the last three months of last year. After a strong recovery in the third quarter of last year, the EU economy has returned to recession, which is usually defined as at least two-quarters of an economic downturn.
Year on year, GDP grew by 13.2 percent in the second quarter. In the previous quarter, on the other hand, it fell by 1.3 percent.
In the euro area alone, GDP grew by two percent after declining by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, which is also in line with the preliminary data. Year on year, the economies of euro-paying countries rose 13.6 percent after declining by 1.3 percent at the beginning of the year.
According to data available so far, Portugal showed the strongest quarter-on-quarter economic growth, where GDP grew by 4.9 percent. The Austrian economy also grew by more than four percent. The weakest growth was in Cyprus, where it was 0.2 percent. In the Czech Republic, GDP increased by 0.6 percent.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) improved its estimate of this year’s growth in the eurozone economy to 4.6 percent from the previously expected 4.4 percent. Last year, according to the IMF, the economies of countries using the euro fell by 6.5 percent due to a pandemic.
Eurostat also announced today that the number of employees in the euro area rose by half a percent in the second quarter compared with the previous three months. Across the EU, it was 0.6 percent higher. In the first three months, employment in both regions fell by 0.2 percent. Year on year, employment in euro-paying countries and the Union as a whole increased by 1.8 percent.