The euro area economy is growing again, but may struggle to maintain the momentum for the rest of the year.
Gross domestic product across the 20 countries that share the euro currency rose by 0.3% in the second quarter, compared with the previous three months, according to an official estimate published Monday.
GDP had fallen by 0.1% in the last three months of 2022, and stagnated in the first quarter of this year.
Separately, official data showed that the overall rate of inflation continued to fall this month. The consumer price index for the euro area rose by 5.3%, down from 5.5% in June.
But core inflation — which strips out volatile food and energy costs — was unchanged at 5.5% in July.
And inflation for services and unprocessed food ticked up to 5.6% and 9.2% respectively.
Despite the encouraging economic data, there are signs that the region could be heading towards stagnation for the rest of the year.
“Today’s data broadly validates our near-term outlook, which anticipates very weak growth in H2, and a summer moderation in the pace of disinflation followed by a relatively sharp fall in Q4,” analysts at Oxford Economics wrote in a note on Monday. Source: CNN
