STAT/06/106
14 August 2006
Flash estimates for the second quarter of 2006 Euro area and EU25 GDP up by 0.9% +2.4% and +2.6% respectively compared to the second quarter of 2005
GDP grew by 0.9% both in the euro area1 and in the EU25 during the second quarter of 2006, compared to the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In the first quarter of 2006, growth rates were +0.6% in the euro area and +0.7% in the EU25.
Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP grew by 2.4% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU25 in the second quarter of 2006, after +2.0% and +2.2% respectively in the previous quarter.
During the second quarter of 2006, US GDP increased by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, after +1.4% in the first quarter. In Japan, growth was 0.2%, after +0.7% in the first quarter. Compared to the second quarter of 2005, GDP grew by 3.5% in the US, after +3.7% in the previous quarter, and by 2.2% in Japan, after +3.4% in the previous quarter.
Euro area: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.Summary quality information:
European quarterly national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA95). The flash estimate of 2006 Q2 GDP growth presented in this release is based on Member States’ data as available, directly covering 96% of euro area GDP (90% of EU25 GDP). For more details of the flash methodology please refer to News Release 55/2003 of 15 May 2003.
Simulations and previously published flash estimates have shown the flash estimation procedure to be reliable. Over the last 22 quarters, the flash estimate of GDP growth on the previous quarter for the euro area when compared to the following first regular release has led to an average revision of less than 0.01 percentage points. It correctly anticipated the acceleration or deceleration of growth 18 times. The value of the growth rate was correctly anticipated 18 times and differed by ±0.1 percentage points 4 times.
With this flash estimate, euro area and EU25 GDP figures for earlier quarters are not revised, so the growth rates till the first quarter 2006, published in News Release 91/2006 of 12 July 2006, remain unchanged. All figures presented in this release are subject to further revision with the two regular estimates of GDP for the second quarter 2006, scheduled for 31 August 2006 and 11 October 2006.
Issued by: Eurostat Press Office Tim ALLEN BECH Building L-2920 LUXEMBOURG Tel: +352-4301-33 444 Fax: +352-4301-35 349 eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu Eurostat news releases on the Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat For further information on data: Ingo KUHNERT Luis BIEDMA Tel: +352-4301-35 234 +352-4301-34 728 Fax: +352-4301-33 879 estat-gdp-query@ec.europa.eu Growth rates of GDP in volume
(based on seasonally adjusted* data)
Percentage change compared to the previous quarter Percentage change compared to the same quarter of the previous year 2005 2006 2005 2006 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Euro area 0.6 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.6 1.7 2.0 2.4 EU25 0.6 0.4 0.7 0.9 1.8 1.9 2.2 2.6 Member States Belgium 0.5 0.6 0.9 0.8 1.2 1.5 2.3 2.8 Czech Republic 1.6 2.0 2.0 : 6.2 6.9 7.4 : Denmark 0.6 0.1 0.2 : 4.1 3.3 2.6 : Germany 0.5 0.3 0.7 0.9 1.5 1.7 1.7 2.4 Estonia 2.7 2.1 2.0 : 10.4 11.5 11.1 : Greece 1.8 -0.2 2.8 : 3.8 3.7 4.1 : Spain 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.6 France 0.7 0.2 0.5 1.2 1.4 1.1 1.5 : Ireland 0.4 2.1 1.1 : 6.1 6.5 5.7 : Italy 0.3 0.0 0.7 0.5 0.1 0.5 1.6 1.5 Cyprus 1.2 0.7 0.4 : 3.9 3.6 3.1 : Latvia** 2.8 2.8 2.8 : 11.4 10.6 13.1 : Lithuania 2.2 2.1 1.8 2.3 8.1 8.2 8.2 8.6 Luxembourg** : : : : 5.3 7.5 7.3 : Hungary 1.0 1.0 1.0 : 4.4 4.2 4.3 : Malta 6.9 -3.0 -3.5 : 6.7 2.0 -1.3 : Netherlands** 0.7 0.6 0.3 1.0 2.0 1.9 2.9 2.4 Austria 0.7 0.7 0.6 1.0 1.7 2.2 2.6 3.1 Poland** 1.7 1.5 1.2 : 3.5 5.0 5.0 : Portugal -1.0 0.3 0.5 : 0.3 0.8 1.0 : Slovenia 0.6 1.0 0.8 : 4.0 5.0 4.7 : Slovakia** 1.7 2.1 1.2 : 6.3 7.4 6.3 : Finland 0.9 1.2 0.9 : 3.3 4.1 4.2 : Sweden 1.2 1.0 1.4 1.4 2.9 3.3 4.4 5.0 United Kingdom 0.4 0.7 0.7 0.8 1.8 1.8 2.3 2.6 EFTA countries Iceland -0.2 -0.2 1.9 : 4.6 3.6 4.1 : Norway 0.8 0.3 0.6 : 3.8 2.4 2.7 : Switzerland 0.9 0.7 0.9 : 2.3 2.8 3.5 : Main economic partners United States 1.0 0.4 1.4 0.6 3.4 3.1 3.7 3.5 Japan 0.2 1.1 0.7 0.2 2.7 4.0 3.4 2.2 :Data not available
*The seasonal adjustment includes a working-day correction for the following Member States: Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
**Percentage change compared to the same quarter of the previous year calculated from non-seasonally adjusted data.
