According to the last rapid estimate of Eurostat, the Statistics Office of the European Commission, GDP increased by 0.6% both in the thirteen countries of the Euro and in the EU-27 in the first quarter of 2007. The growth is slightly lower than the +0.9% registered in the fourth quarter of 2006. Annualized growth in GDP stands thus at respectively 3.1% and 3.2%. The best results were achieved by Latvia (+10.7%), Slovakia (+8.9%), Lithuania (+6.7%) and Spain (+4%), while Belgium, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal and the UK all registered positive rates but lower than the EU average. So European GDP continues to rise at a higher rate than GDP both in the USA (+2.1%) and in Japan (+2,5%).
