Greece Reports Largest Quarterly Growth in Eurozone

Photo source: South EU Summit.

Greece recorded the highest quarterly growth in the euro zone, up by 1.4 percent in Q4 2022 compared to the previous quarter, according to data released by Eurostat.

More specifically, Greece, Malta (+1,2 percent) and Cyprus (+1,1 percent) all registered quarterly growth of more than 1 percent while the largest declines were reported in Poland (-2.4 percent), Estonia (-1.6 percent) and Finland (-0.6 percent).

Declines were also seen in Germany, Italy and Lithuania.

On a yearly basis, the Greek economy grew by 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, marking the second largest increase. The largest year-on-year GDP growth was recorded in Q4 in Ireland (+13.1 percent).

Source: Eurostat.

Overall, the euro area did not register any quarter-on-quarter economic growth in Q4. More specifically, GDP stood still at 0.0 percent in Q4 compared with to Q3 and 1.8 percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, employment rates in the euro zone and the EU increased by 0.3 percent in Q4 2022 compared to the previous quarter, following a 0.3 percent increase in the euro area and a 0.2 percent rise in the EU in Q3.

Source: Eurostat.

Compared to Q3 2021, employment rose by 1.5 percent in the euro zone and by 1.3 percent in the EU in Q4 after a 1.8 percent rise in the eurozone and 1.5 percent increase in the EU in Q3 2022.

Malta reported the highest employment growth rate compared to the previous quarter at  1.6 percent, followed by Poland (0.9 percent), Estonia, Cyprus and the Netherlands (0.7 percent). Greece recorded the seventh largest rise in employment by 0.6 percent.