Eurozone GDP fell as lockdown restrictions tightened ahead of Christmas
Eurozone GDP declined 0.6 per cent in the lead-up to Christmas, new data shows today.
The European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, said GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro contracted 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the October-December period, for a five per cent annual decline.
That’s slightly better than earlier estimates from Eurostat of a contraction was 0.7 per cent in the quarter and 5.1 per cent in annual terms.
From among the bloc’s largest economies, growth in Germany of 0.1 per cent and Spain 0.4 per cent contributed to the upwards surprise, while GDP dips in France ( down 1.3 per cent), Italy ( down two per cent) and the Netherlands (down 0.1 per cent) occurred.
Employment inched up 0.3 per cent on the quarter in the last three months of 2020 after a one per cent quarterly rise in the previous three months.
It was still two per cent lower than in the same period a year earlier.