"During the third quarter of 2007, the Gross Domestic Product of the euro-zone increased by 0.8% from the last quarter": the growth rate in the second quarter had been 0.3% in the euro-zone and 0.5% across the EU. Eurostat announced in Brussels today the macroeconomic figures for the summer period, which still do not show the main problems that have come to the fore in the second part of the year due to the turbulence caused on the US financial markets by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the rise in the price of crude oil and the slight rise in inflation. The quarterly figures, purged of seasonal fluctuations, seem to show a growth rate of 2.7% p.a. in the euro-zone and 3% across the Union. The best performance is again that of the Eastern countries, with Lithuania top of the GDP list (+5.2%), followed by Latvia and Slovakia. Among the main EU partners, the United States show a growth rate of 1.2% for the same quarter, while Japan is steady at 0.4%. Low growth rates can also be found in terms of consumption, foreign trade and investments.
