The European Statistical Office Eurostat confirmed a GDP growth of 2.5% in 2017. As a reminder, the European Commission had forecasted an increase of 2.4% on February 7th. In fact, annual growth in the eurozone has never been so strong since 2007, just before the financial crisis, when it reached 3.0%.
In detail, the gross domestic product recorded an increase of 0.6% in the eurozone, as well as in the 28 states of the European Union, in the fourth quarter of 2017. “During the third quarter of 2017, GDP had grown by 0.7% in both zones,” recalls the organization in a statement.
France observed an increase of 0.6% compared to the third quarter and 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Its neighbor across the Rhine, the largest economy in the eurozone, saw its GDP grow by 0.6% in the fourth quarter as well, but by 2.9% to date.
And for this year? For the whole of 2018, solid growth of 2.5% is still likely.
Last September, the OECD was less optimistic, predicting a slowdown in growth.
