Brussels, 09/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 March, the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) reported the developments in GDP in the eurozone and in the European Union as a whole (EU-28) for the fourth quarter and the whole of the year 2015. Seasonally-adjusted GDP grew by 0.3% in the eurozone and by 0.4% in the EU-28 compared to the previous quarter.
This increase in the generation of wealth was the same as that observed between the third and fourth quarters of the same year.
Over the whole of the year 2014, GDP grew by 0.9% in the eurozone and by 1.4% in the EU-28, compared to 1.6% and 1.9% respectively in 2015.
By way of comparison, during the fourth quarter of 2015, the GDP of the United States grew by 0.3% on the previous quarter (following growth of +0.5% in the third quarter of 2015).
All the countries for which the data for the fourth quarter are available, the steepest rates of growth compared to the previous quarter were noted in Sweden (+1.3%), Estonia (+1.2%), Poland and Romania (+1.1% each), Hungary and Slovakia (+1.0% each). Conversely, drops were observed in Croatia (-0.5%) and Latvia (-0.3%). GDP remained stable in the Czech Republic. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion-stag)