Brussels, 08/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 January, Eurostat confirmed that eurozone and EU27 GDP had fallen by 0.2% during the third quarter 2008 compared to the second quarter when it had already fallen by 0.2% in the eurozone and stayed the same in the EU27. Compared to the same period of the year 2007, GDP increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU27, compared to +1.4% and +1.7% during the previous quarter. Slovakia (+1.5%) notched up the greatest rate of growth compared to the previous quarter, followed by Ireland and Poland (+1.2% each)
Taking components separately, household final consumption remained stable in the eurozone and was up 0.1% in the EU27 (after -0.2% and -0.1% during the third quarter). Investment was down by 0.6% in the eurozone and by 0.8% in the EU27 (after -0.9% and -0.7%). Exports remained stable in the eurozone and in the EU27 (after -0.1% in both areas), while imports progressed by 1.4% and 1.1% respectively (after -0.4% and -0.5%).
During the third quarter 2008, US GDP fell by 0.1% (+0.7% for the previous quarter) and that of Japan by 0.5% (-1.0% for the previous quarter). Compared to the third quarter 2007, the GDP of the USA increased by 0.7% (+2.1% for previous quarter) and that of Japan fell by 0.3% (+0.6% in the third quarter). (A.B./transl.jl)