Brussels, 07/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - In the fourth quarter of 2008, GDP in the eurozone fell by 1.6% and in the EU27 by 1.5% on the previous quarter, when growth stood at 0.3% in both zones, explains Eurostat in a press release published on Tuesday 7 April (in February 2009, Eurostat was forecasting a 1.5% fall in both areas for the end of 2008). Compared with the last quarter of 2007, GDP in the eurozone rose by 1.5% and in the EU27 by 1.4%, compared with rises of 0.6% and 0.7% respectively in the third quarter. The greatest growth in GDP in the fourth quarter on the third quarter of 2008 was recorded in Slovakia (2.1%), followed by Cyprus (0.6%) and Greece and Poland (both 0.3%).
In the last quarter of 2008, GDP fell by 1.6% in the United States (and by 0.1% in the third quarter), while GDP fell by 3.2% in Japan (-0.4% in the third quarter). Compared with the last quarter of 2007, US GDP fell by 0.8% (0.7%) and Japan's GDP by 4.3% (-0.2%).
In 2008, growth in the eurozone reached 0.8% and growth in the EU27 0.9% (compared with 2.6% and 2.9% respectively in 2007). In 2008, United States GDP grew by 1.1% (+2.0% in 2007) but Japan's GDP fell by 0.6% (+2.4% in 2007). (A.B./transl.fl)