BRUSSELS, July 29 (Reuters) – Euro zone economic growth accelerated quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, preliminary data showed on Friday, defying expectations of a slowdown, thanks to a much stronger than forecast performance in Spain, France and Italy.
The Eurostat preliminary estimate might be revised later, but it shows the resilience of the economy of the 19 countries sharing the euro amid record inflation, especially energy costs for industry, and uncertainty created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Euro zone gross domestic product rose 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, estimates by the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed and 4.0% year-on-year.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2% quarterly rise and a 3.4% year-on-year gain, after a 0.5% quarterly increase and a 5.4% annual rise in the first three months.
Despite a slightly weaker than expected outcome in the euro zone biggest economy Germany, France beat expectations with a 0.5% quarterly growth, Italy with a much stronger 1.0% growth and Spain with an equally surprising 1.1% increase.
Interesting.
Maybe people spend money because they fear inflation will make it worthless?
Or maybe the first summer since COVID and people don’t care, they want to enjoy themselves?
Beautiful news. Europe’s economy goes brrr while Anglo media forecasts doom and gloom. The eurozone has had a nice cumulative 1.2% growth in the first half of the year even as the US, China, Japan, Israel and New Zealand have had a negative quarter or two. Europe has been pretty resilient and if it does go into a recession it might be because of the negative global environment rather Russia’s war.
EU’s economy is so underrated. Controversial fiscal prudence and austerity (at least relatively to the rest of the world) seem to have laid the foundations for healthy growth, aided by the commission’s numerous trade deals. Since 2008 to 2021 Europe’s GDP PPP per capita has actually grown faster than that of most developing countries and of some developed ones. That’s amazing but is rarely appreciated.
As long as we keep measuring economic growth with an inflating unit, there will be growth!
We should change to a system that measures progress differently. Something that takes into account human happiness, free time, and disposable income as fraction of total income.
4 comments
BRUSSELS, July 29 (Reuters) – Euro zone economic growth accelerated quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, preliminary data showed on Friday, defying expectations of a slowdown, thanks to a much stronger than forecast performance in Spain, France and Italy.
The Eurostat preliminary estimate might be revised later, but it shows the resilience of the economy of the 19 countries sharing the euro amid record inflation, especially energy costs for industry, and uncertainty created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Euro zone gross domestic product rose 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, estimates by the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed and 4.0% year-on-year.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2% quarterly rise and a 3.4% year-on-year gain, after a 0.5% quarterly increase and a 5.4% annual rise in the first three months.
Despite a slightly weaker than expected outcome in the euro zone biggest economy Germany, France beat expectations with a 0.5% quarterly growth, Italy with a much stronger 1.0% growth and Spain with an equally surprising 1.1% increase.
Interesting.
Maybe people spend money because they fear inflation will make it worthless?
Or maybe the first summer since COVID and people don’t care, they want to enjoy themselves?
Beautiful news. Europe’s economy goes brrr while Anglo media forecasts doom and gloom. The eurozone has had a nice cumulative 1.2% growth in the first half of the year even as the US, China, Japan, Israel and New Zealand have had a negative quarter or two. Europe has been pretty resilient and if it does go into a recession it might be because of the negative global environment rather Russia’s war.
EU’s economy is so underrated. Controversial fiscal prudence and austerity (at least relatively to the rest of the world) seem to have laid the foundations for healthy growth, aided by the commission’s numerous trade deals. Since 2008 to 2021 Europe’s GDP PPP per capita has actually grown faster than that of most developing countries and of some developed ones. That’s amazing but is rarely appreciated.
As long as we keep measuring economic growth with an inflating unit, there will be growth!
We should change to a system that measures progress differently. Something that takes into account human happiness, free time, and disposable income as fraction of total income.