The eurozone’s economy demonstrated resilience in the second quarter of 2024, with a growth rate exceeding expectations, as indicated by preliminary data released by the European Union’s statistics office on Tuesday.
The region’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.3% in the quarter ending in June, surpassing the anticipated 0.2% increase predicted by economists surveyed by Reuters. The figures also confirmed that the first-quarter GDP remained stable at 0.3%, consistent with the initial reading announced earlier in the year.
After experiencing a technical recession in the latter part of 2023, highlighted by contractions in the third and fourth quarters, the euro zone’s economy has shown signs of recovery in the first half of 2024.
However, the data revealed that Germany, the largest economy in the eurozone, unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter. This decline was below the projections of analysts polled by Reuters, who had expected a marginal growth of 0.1% in Germany’s GDP during the same period.
Among the euro zone countries, Germany was one of just four nations that reported a decline in GDP for the second quarter of 2024. The other countries facing contractions during this period were Latvia, Sweden, and Hungary, according to the European Union’s statistics office.
