The lights of Frankfurt’s bank skyline shone in the final light.
Boris Roessler | Image Alliance | Getty Images
Euro zone economic growth exceeded expectations in the second quarter of 2024, preliminary data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.
In the three months to the end of June, the region’s gross domestic product increased by 0.3% monthly data show. Economists polled by Reuters had expected quarterly growth of 0.2%.
GDP in the first quarter was confirmed at 0.3%, the same as the same period last year initial reading announced earlier this year.
Eurozone Entering a technological recession GDP in the second half of 2023 will contract in the third and fourth quarters, according to revised data released earlier this year.
Bert Colijn, senior euro zone economist at ING, said in a report on Tuesday that data showed the region’s economy was recovering.
“After stagnation throughout 2023, this is a breath of relief and shows that the economy has begun to cautiously recover,” he said, adding that the economy was now in better shape than a year ago.
“The question remains where the economy will go, and recent data does not provide much confidence that the euro zone economy will accelerate further,” Colin said.
Data released earlier in the day showed that Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, unexpectedly Shrinked 0.1% Second quarter – lower than expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, who had expected GDP to grow 0.1%.
Germany was one of only four countries to see its gross domestic product fall in the three months to the end of June, according to Eurostat. Latvia, Sweden and Hungary are the other three countries experiencing economic contraction.
Klaus Wohlrabe, ifo’s head of surveys, said in a report on Wednesday that the German economy was “in crisis” and did not expect much improvement in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Ireland grew by 1.2% in the second quarter, the largest increase in France, the euro zone’s second-largest economy. Gross Domestic Product Growth Its statistics office said on Tuesday that the growth rate for the same period was 0.3%.
Eurozone inflation data will be released on Wednesday. The European Central Bank releases the latest Eurozone data this week Keep interest rates unchanged At a meeting earlier this month, it said the option of cutting interest rates in September was “open”.