The eurozone economy grew more than expected in the third quarter, official data showed Wednesday, thanks to Germany which defied expectations and dodged a recession. The EU's official data agency said the eurozone recorded growth of 0.4 percent over the July-September period from the previous quarter.
The figure was higher than the 0.2 percent predicted by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg who had feared Germany would weigh down the eurozone. But the German economy expanded 0.
2 percent quarter-on-quarter, narrowly avoiding a technical recession defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. The figures will offer some relief, coming a month after Eurostat revised its data to show the eurozone grew by only 0.2 percent in the second quarter of this year.
But analysts expect slower growth in the final three months of 2024. With inflation in the single currency area now below the European Central Bank's two-percent target, policymakers are turning their attention to growth. The ECB has accelerated its interest rate cuts as economists warned the eurozone could post weaker growth than expected next year.
"We forecast eurozone GDP to grow by just 0.7 percent in 2025 compared to a consensus forecast of 1.3 percent," said Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics research group.
Europe's output has been consistently underperforming compared with the economies of the United States and China which have expanded faster. The United States is set to report another q.
