EU economy posts weaker growth performance in Q2

ISTANBUL

The European Union's gross domestic product growth performance slowed down in the second quarter of 2019, the bloc's statistical office's data showed on Friday.

Eurostat said the EU28 posted 1.4% economic growth this April-June, as the euro area saw 1.2% GDP growth compared to the second quarter of 2018.

The annual growth rate for the EU28 and eurozone were 1.3% and 1.6% in the first quarter, respectively, according to Eurostat data.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents the member states that use the single currency -- the euro -- while the EU28 defines all member countries of the bloc.

Among member states, the highest growth rates were seen in Hungary (5.2%), Romania (4.6%), and Lithuania (3.9%), while Italy's GDP narrowed by 0.1%.

The EU's GDP also posted weaker growth performance in 2018 compared to the previous year -- the EU28's GDP dropped to 1.9%, and the EA19 to 1.8%, both from 2.4%.

Employment

Eurostat also announced that employment saw increases of 1% in the EU28 and 1.2% in the EA19 in the second quarter, on a yearly basis.

These figures were 1.2% for the EU28 and 1.4% for the EA19 in the first quarter, said Eurostat.

"In the second quarter of 2019, 241.4 million people were employed in the EU28, of which 160.0 million were in the euro area," it added.