The European Union’s economy continued to recover from the effects of the coronavirus decline in the third quarter, growing by 2.1 percent. Thus, after declining by 0.1 percent in the first quarter, the EU economy is growing with the gradual easing of pandemic restrictions for the second three months in a row, when output rose by two percent in the second quarter.
The gross domestic product of the 19 euro area countries increased by 2.2 percent, which, as in the EU, was a tenth of a percentage point more than in the second quarter. Year-on-year, GDP grew by 3.9 percent in the EU and by 3.7 percent in the euro area.
Growth slightly exceeded expectations of analysts, who calculated a two percent for the eurozone in a Reuters poll.
Today’s Eurostat estimates are based on incomplete data from less than half of the 27 countries, and the Office will refine them later. Of the 11 countries that have already provided figures to the office, Austria (3.3 percent) saw the highest growth, followed by France (three percent) and Portugal (2.9 percent). By contrast, the economies of Lithuania, which remained at the same output, and Latvia, where it grew by 0.3 percent, were the least successful. Czech GDP increased by 1.4 percent.