According to the preliminary report from Eurostat, in the 2nd quarter, the eurozone economy expanded by 0.3% (the strongest growth since the 3rd quarter of 2022) after similar growth in the 1st quarter. Economists had expected GDP to grow by 0.2%. As for the European Union countries, GDP also increased by 0.3%, as in the previous quarter.
In annual terms, the growth of the eurozone economy accelerated to 0.6% from 0.5% in the 1st quarter, while consensus estimates suggested that GDP would grow by 0.5%. Meanwhile, the GDP of the European Union countries grew by 0.7% after an increase of 0.6% in the 4th quarter.
Eurostat said that among EU countries, Ireland (+1.2%) recorded the highest increase compared to the previous quarter, followed by Lithuania (+0.9%) and Spain (+0.8%). The highest declines were recorded in Latvia (-1.1%), Sweden (-0.8%) and Hungary (-0.2%). The year on year growth rates were positive for eight countries and negative for three.
The latest survey of professional forecasters (SPF) showed that respondents expected real GDP growth of 0.7% in 2024, 1.3% in 2025 and 1.4% in 2026. The expectations for 2024 and 2025 were revised up by 0.2% and down by 0.1% respectively, while those for 2026 were unchanged. Meanwhile, longer-term growth expectations remained unchanged at 1.3%.