The economy of the euro zone grew again in the second quarter compared to the previous one despite the difficulties in Germany. According to Eurostat's still preliminary estimates, the GDP of the euro countries increased by 0.3%, after stagnating in the first quarter and falling by 0.1% in the quarter of 2022.
In Germany, GDP remained at similar levels, compared to France and Spain, where it increased by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. Eurostat's calculations do not include Italy, where the national statistics institute, Istat, reported yesterday a quarterly decline of 0.3%, higher than expected by the Bank of Italy. In the EU as a whole, economic growth was 0%.
The still anemic growth in the euro zone coincides with a certain moderation in inflation, which remains far from the 2% pursued by the ECB. In July, also according to Eurostat estimates, prices rose by an average of 5.3% in the euro area in year-on-year terms, for the first time below the levels before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the February 2022.
Spain registered an increase of 2.1% - two tenths less than what the INE announced, since this is a harmonized figure to facilitate comparison with the rest of the countries - and is still in the queue of the EU in price increases. Only Luxembourg and Belgium surpass it, with rates of 2% and 1.6%, respectively. In Slovakia, inflation continues to exceed 10%.
In Germany, the year-on-year increase is now 6.5%, among the highest in Europe, although it is far from the rates of more than 11% recorded more than a year ago. Spain maintains a gap in the evolution of prices compared to Germany of close to four points.
"Energy prices were again the main driver of the decline, with a fall of 6.1% in July", explains Ulrike Kastens, of DWS, after analyzing the data released yesterday by Eurostat .
