Euro zone Q2 economic growth beats expectations
The EU statistics agency Eurostat has revealed the euro zone economy grew by 1% in the April to June period - boosted by its largest economy - Germany.
Economic growth in the 16 nations that use the euro beat expectations, and followed growth of 0.2% in the first quarter and exceeded forecasts of 0.7%.
Meanwhile, the economy grew by 1.7% on an annual basis, according to Eurostat.
The growth was primarily from a strong performance in Germany, which saw a record 2.2% growth in the second quarter – the fastest quarterly growth in 20 years.
On an annul basis, German economic growth soared by 4.1%. The strong growth was boosted by exports, helped by a weaker euro.
However, Germany’s strong performance was not reflected elsewhere across Europe. The Greek economy contracted by 1.5% in the second quarter – suggesting the country’s recession is far worse than originally anticipated.
Other struggling economies, such as Spain and Portugal, both experienced growth of 0.2% in the April to June quarter.
However, other strong performers were the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and France, who saw growth of 0.9%, 0.9%, 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.
The figures will be welcomed by investors after the euro zone has been suffering amid a debt crisis, which threatened to spread across other economies.
The euro zone’s economic recovery came to a standstill in 2009, with the 16-member nation experiencing growth of just 0.1% in the final quarter.
However, many analysts believe this is as good as it gets for the economy, since tough austerity measures in weaker economies threaten to weaken growth.
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