MADRID, 8 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the euro zone recorded a contraction of 0.1% in the first quarter of 2023, which means that the region’s economy has entered a technical recession, after the drop in activity also in the 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the latest revision of the data published by Eurostat.
In this way, the community statistical office has revised its previous estimate downwards by two tenths, published in mid-May, which pointed to an expansion of 0.1% of GDP in the euro area between January and March.
This is the first recession recorded in the euro zone economy since GDP contracted consecutively in the first and second quarters of 2020, as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions implemented.
On the other hand, in the European Union (EU) as a whole, the economy managed to grow by 0.1% between January and March, after the contraction of 0.2% observed between October and December 2022.
Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the economy of the euro area and the EU as a whole increased by 1% in each case.
During the first quarter of 2023, GDP in the United States increased by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, after rising 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Similarly, in Japan, GDP grew by 0. 7%, compared to 0.1% in the three previous months.
According to seasonally adjusted Eurostat figures, GDP volumes in the Eurozone and the EU were 2.2% and 2.9%, respectively, higher than the level registered in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the Covid pandemic. -19. In the case of the United States, GDP was 5.4% above the level of the fourth quarter of 2019.
Among the EU countries for which data were available, the highest GDP growth in the first quarter of the year corresponded to Poland (3.8%), ahead of Luxembourg (2%) and Portugal (1.6%). In contrast, the worst economic evolution was observed in Ireland (-4.6%); Lithuania (-2.1%), and the Netherlands (-0.7%).
Among the largest EU economies, Germany entered recession with a first-quarter GDP contraction of 0.3%, after falling 0.5% in the previous three months, while France’s GDP increased by 0 .2%, after stagnating in the fourth quarter of 2022, and that of Italy increased by 0.6%, after a contraction of 0.1% between October and December of last year. In Spain, GDP grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to growth of 0.4% in the three previous months.
In year-on-year terms, the highest GDP growth was recorded in Spain (3.8%), ahead of Cyprus (3.4%) and Malta (3.2%), while the largest contractions were observed in Estonia ( -3.7%); Lithuania (-2.7%) and Hungary (-1.1%).
