The Eurozone economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the third quarter, helped by economic recovery in Germany and France, while Italy contracted again.
Gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent from the second quarter, flash estimates from Eurostat showed Friday. Economists had forecast the growth rate to remain unchanged at 0.1 percent.
On a yearly basis, growth held steady at 0.8 percent, while it was forecast to slow marginally to 0.7 percent.
In the EU28, GDP climbed 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter and advanced 1.3 percent from the prior year.
Among major economies, Germany and France dodged recession, while Italy shrank again taking the economy back into recession.
Household spending and exports underpinned the German economic recovery, while investment exerted downward pressure. German GDP rose 0.1 percent sequentially, offsetting a revised 0.1 percent drop in the previous quarter.
At the same time, French GDP expanded at a faster-than-expected pace of 0.3 percent in the third quarter, marking the fastest growth since the second quarter of 2013. The sequential growth also reversed a 0.1 percent fall in the preceding quarter and exceeded the expected 0.1 percent expansion.
In Spain, the sequential growth moderated to 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, Italy's GDP contracted eleven times in the past 13 quarters. GDP fell 0.1 percent sequentially in the third quarter after declining 0.2 percent in the second quarter.
Elsewhere, Cyprus remained mired in recession in the third quarter. GDP fell 0.4 percent each in the second and third quarter.
Portugal grew 0.2 percent following a 0.3 percent rise a quarter ago. The growth in Estonia eased sharply to 0.2 percent from 1.1 percent. Estonia joined the euro area in January 2011.
The youngest eurozone country Latvia saw its growth halved to 0.4 percent from 0.8 percent. Latvia became the 18th member of the Eurozone on January 1. Finland expanded 0.2 percent, the same rate as seen in the previous quarter.
Austria's economy stagnated for two consecutive quarters, while neighboring Slovakia's growth remained stable at 0.6 percent.
The growth in Belgium doubled to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent. On the other hand, the Dutch economy grew at a slower pace of 0.2 percent after rising 0.6 percent.
A separate report released today showed that Greece emerged from a long recession in the first three months of this year after the economy expanded for the first time since 2009. GDP grew 0.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013.
On a yearly basis, Greek GDP increased 1.4 percent in the third quarter following 0.4 percent growth in the previous three months and 0.3 percent contraction in the three months to March.
Final report from Eurostat today showed that Eurozone inflation came in at 0.4 percent in October, in line with flash estimate, but up from 0.3 percent in September. It has been below the 2 percent ceiling since February 2013.
The small expansion in the Eurozone economy in the third quarter has not diminished the need for both the European Central Bank and national governments to respond to the persistent risk of deflation in the currency union with more decisive policy action, Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said.
IHS Global Insight's Chief European Economist Howard Archer said he still has serious concerns over underlying problems in the Eurozone. But he believes that the help coming from sustained low oil prices and a weaker euro could actually result in GDP growth being better in 2015 than is widely feared.
The results of the latest Survey of Professional Forecasters for the fourth quarter published in the ECB's monthly bulletin showed that survey experts see slower growth in the currency bloc. GDP growth forecast for the next year was trimmed to 1.2 percent from 1.5 percent and that for this year was cut to 0.8 percent from 1 percent.
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Business News
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.