The gross domestic product (GDP) of the Euro zone registered in the fourth quarter of 2021 an expansion of 0.3% compared to the previous three monthswhen it had grown by 2.3%, as confirmed by Eurostat, which places Spain at the head of the euro economies with GDP growth of 2% in the last quarter of 2021.
In the European Union (EU) as a whole, the rate of expansion between October and December slowed down considerably compared to the third quarterup to 0.4%, compared to growth of 2.2% between the months of July and September 2021.
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, the GDP of the euro zone experienced an expansion of 4.6%, while the economy of the Twenty-seven grew by 4.8%.
Among the EU countries for which data were available, the highest quarterly growth rate was recorded in Hungary (2.1%), ahead of Spain (2%) and Poland (1.7%). By contrast, GDP contracted in Austria (-2.2%), Germany (-0.7%), Romania (-0.5%) and Latvia (-0.1%).
The Eurozone and the EU grew by 5.2% in 2021
Based on the annual growth estimate for 2021, based on calendar and seasonally adjusted quarterly data, GDP increased by 5.2% in both the eurozone and the EU.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Government (BEA, for its acronym in English) reported that the GDP of the United States experienced an expansion during 2021 of 5.7%, compared to the economic contraction of 3.4% that the country registered during 2020.
At the same time, China registered an expansion of 8.1% in 2021the highest rate of growth in the Asian giant since 2011, far exceeding Beijing’s target of 6% and in contrast to the 2.2% expansion in 2020.
In the case of Japan, the Government reported this Tuesday that the GDP of the world’s third largest economy increased by 1.7% in 2021, after contracting 4.5% in 2020 and 0.2% in 2019.