Euro zone GDP speeds down in the third quarter

In the third quarter, surge in the euro zone speeded down. That’s what follows from a preliminary estimate uncovered on Tuesday. The given news definitely drove worries of market participants that the EU economy is actually losing momentum.

As Eurostat told, in the third quarter, the euro zone economy headed north by up to 0.2%, diving from 0.4% recorded in the previous quarter. Market experts had been expecting surge of 0.4%.

In the three months to September the euro zone economy managed to expand by an annualized 1.7%, speeding down from a upwardly updated outcome of 2.2% in the second quarter, in contrast with estimates of 1.9%.

According to separate reports uncovered earlier, the French economy managed to speed up in the third quarter. Nevertheless, there was an exception – surge in Italy happened to stall and it caused a long-lasting conflict with Brussels.

In addition to this, French GDP tacked on by up to 0.4%. Eventually, it was underpinned by soaring consumer spending as well as business investment – they both managed to gain 0.2% in the previous quarter.

However, Italy’s GDP stood still in contrast with the second quarter. The given outcome confounded hopes for a 0.2% leap.

The stagnation in surge takes place against the backdrop of an everlasting clash between Rome and Brussels. The cornerstone of this long-lasting conflict between the EU member and Brussels is rooted in the Italian cabinet’s budget plans.

The previous week the European Commission disapproved Italy’s 2019 draft budget that would ramp up the country’s deficit, giving an emphasis to the necessity of having a lower deficit.

As a matter of fact, Italy’s cabinet was granted up to three weeks to have a budget proposal resubmitted. However, the Italian government has promised to stick with its spending initiative.