” “During the second half of 2008 (April to June), "the Gross Domestic Product in the euro-zone has decreased by 0.2%" compared with the previous quarter. In the 27 member states, the GDP has decreased by 0.1%. Compared with the same period the year before, the GDP has grown in the euro-zone by 1.4% and by 1.6% all over the EU (the year before, this was over 2%). The figures published by Eurostat in Brussels today confirm that the European economy is slowing down. All the components of the GDP (household consumption, investments, exports and imports) are decreasing. In particular, the volume of retail sales, for which the July figures are available, seems to be falling in the 15 states that use the single currency (-0.4% since June), while it is slightly on the rise (+0.1%) in the 27 member states. The Statistics Office of the Commission points out that retail sales per annum have leapt forward in Romania (+18.4%), Slovakia (+6.8%) and Poland (+6.6%), while they are slowing down a lot in Latvia (-8.5%), Luxembourg and Spain (-5.9%).
