The Portuguese economy is the second-fastest growing among the 20 countries in the Euro Zone, standing at 2.3% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. As for the single currency, space stopped at the bottom, stagnating at 0.6%, well below the 2.6% advance of the United States of America (USA), according to data released this Wednesday by Eurostat.
Cyprus's GDP also advanced 2.3% between April and June compared to last year. Ireland leads the most thriving economies in the Eurozone, increasing 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the statistics office.
In global terms and looking at the performance of the single currency space, the signs are worrying. The Euro Zone slowed down, growing by just 0.6%, when in the first quarter, it had advanced by 1.1%, year-on-year. The recession of the largest economy in the Euro bloc contributed to this sharp slowdown: Germany's GDP contracted by 0.1%. France, the second-strongest country, gained just 0.9%.
Concerning the 27 countries of the European Union (EU), the average GDP growth also cooled significantly to 0.5% in the second quarter compared to the same period of the previous year, which corresponds with a much higher increase, of 1.1%, in the quarter earlier.
Eurostat's data also show the slowdown in the EU and Eurozone, compared with the US boost of 2.6% between April and June.
Regarding the labour market, the employment rate fell, in the second quarter, to 1.5% and 1.3% in the Euro Zone and in the EU, respectively, in year-on-year terms, which compares with a growth of 1.6 % in both geographies. The European statistics office does not present information on Portugal between April and June.
in Diário de Notícias / Eurostat