Seasonally adjusted GDP grew by 0.3% and 0.4% in the Eurozone and the European Union respectively in the second quarter of 2018, according to a flash estimate published by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Tuesday 31 July.
This represents a slight down-turn in Eurozone growth, as the growth rate in the first quarter of this year stood 0.4% of GDP (see EUROPE 12036), when it was also +0.4% of GDP in the EU.
Between the second quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2018, seasonally adjusted GDP grew by 2.1% in the Eurozone and 2.2% in the EU, or a drop of 0.4% and 0.2% respectively compared to the growth rates between the first quarters of 2017 and 2018.
Another Eurostat flash estimate published on the same day reports an annual inflation rate of 2.1% in July 2018, or an increase of 0.1% compared to June (see EUROPE 12065). Of the components of this inflation, energy is expected to have grown most between July 2017 and 2018 (9.4%), with the increase in prices of food, alcohol & tobacco expected to stand at 2.5% over the period in question, ahead of services (1.4%) and non-energy industrial goods (0.5%). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)