The eurozone economy has recovered slightly more than expected

After declining at the beginning of the year, the eurozone economy recovered slightly more in the second quarter than originally expected. The seasonally adjusted euro area gross domestic product for the three months from April to June 2021 grew by 2.2 percent quarter on quarter and by 2.1 percent in the European Union (EU) as a whole, according to Eurostat. He thus revised his previous estimate, which expected an expansion of two percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. In the first three months, euro area GDP fell by 0.3% and the EU by 0.1%. In a year-on-year comparison, euro area GDP grew by 14.3% and the EU by 13.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the second quarter, after declining by 1.2% in both regions in the previous quarter. Ireland (+ 6.3%) recorded the strongest quarter-on-quarter economic growth among EU member states in the second quarter, followed by Portugal (+ 4.9%), Latvia (+ 4.4%) and Estonia (+ 4.3%). On the contrary, Malta (-0.5%) and Croatia (-0.2%) recorded a decrease. Slovak GDP improved by 2% quarter on quarter. Household final consumption expenditure increased by 3.7% in the euro area and by 3.5% in the EU in the second quarter, after declining by 2.1% and 1.7% respectively in the first three months of 2021. Government final expenditure consumption increased by 1.2% in both regions after a decrease of 0.5% in both regions. Gross fixed capital formation increased by 1.1% and 1%, respectively, by -0.2% and + 0.3%, respectively. Exports in the euro area increased by 2.2% and in the EU by 1.8% (+ 0.7% in both regions) and imports by 2.3% and 2.2% (+ 0.4% and + 0.6%). In the second quarter of 2021, the seasonally adjusted GDP of the euro area was 2.5% and the EU 2.2% below the levels of the fourth quarter of 2019.