Eurozone GDP registers strong growth

The biggest economies in Eurozone, France and Germany, recorded strong growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the second quarter of 2013, data from European Union's statistics office Eurostat revealed today.

Germany recorded the strongest economic expansion in more than a year by registering a growth of 0.7 per cent while the French economy grew by 0.5 per cent.

The UK also registered a growth of 0.6 per cent.

In July, the UK's Office for National Statistics said the country's economy has picked up pace in the second quarter by registering a 0.6 per cent expansion over the first quarter, with all its major components registering positive growth for the first time since the third quarter of 2010 (See: UK GDP growth quickens to 0.6% in Q2).

The other major gainers were Czech Republic (0.7 per cent), Finland (0.7 per cent), Lithuania (0.6 per cent), Latvia (0.5 per cent), and Poland (0.4 per cent).

France and Germany's growth figures are good signs for Eurozone's growth, analysts said.

Meanwhile, the Euro area and EU 27 GDP rose by 0.3 per cent during the second quarter of 2013, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates. In the first quarter of 2013, growth rates were -0.3 per cent and -0.1 per cent, respectively.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP fell by 0.7 per cent in the Euro area and by 0.2 per cent in the EU27 in the second quarter of 2013, after -1.1 per cent and -0.7 per cent,  respectively in the previous quarter.

During the second quarter of 2013, GDP in the United States grew by 0.4 per cent compared with the previous quarter. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the US GDP rose by 1.4 per cent.

Acoording to another estimates released by Eurostat yesterday, the seasonally adjusted industrial production1 grew by 0.7 per cent in June 2013 compared with May in the Euro area and by 0.9 per cent in the EU27.

In June 2013, production of durable consumer goods grew by 4.9 per cent in the euro area and by 4.2 per cent in the EU27 compared with May.

Capital goods increased by 2.5 per cent in both zones. Intermediate goods rose by 0.5 per cent in the euro area and by 0.8 per cent in the EU27. Non-durable consumer goods fell by 0.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively. Energy dropped by 1.6 per cent in the euro area and by 1.3 per cent in the EU27.

Among the member states for which data are available, industrial production rose in fourteen and fell in eight. The highest increases were registered in Ireland (+8.7 per cent), Romania (+5.7 per cent), Poland (+3.1 per cent), Germany and Greece (both +2.5 per cent), and the largest decreases in the Netherlands (-4.1 per cent), Portugal (-2.8 per cent) and France (-1.5 per cent).