Euro area – The economy stagnated surprisingly in Q4

The GDP in the euro area surprisingly stagnated in the fourth quarter, while the economists surveyed in advance had expected growth of 0.2%.

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Dr Vincent Stamer

Commerzbank Economic Research

01/30/2025

This means that growth has weakened significantly, even if the volatile Irish GDP is excluded. The low level of leading indicators suggests a subdued start to the new year.

According to the flash estimate by Eurostat, the economy in the euro area stagnated in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth was therefore noticeably lower than in the previous quarter. The economists surveyed in advance had expected an increase of 0.2%.

The slowdown in the euro area is largely due to the decline in Germany (-0.2%) and France (-0.1%) in the fourth quarter. Both countries were still growing in the third quarter. Italy's economy stagnated yet again and Spain was surprisingly able to maintain its strong growth of 0.8% in the previous quarter.

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