The UK has topped the list of the European Union’s ‘Big Four’ economies in third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, while Germany’s economy shrunk in Q3.
Between the second and third quarter of 2018, the UK economy grew by o.6 per cent, followed by France at 0.4 per cent, according to estimates published by eurostat Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Italy saw no growth (zero per cent change) and Germany’s economy shrunk by -0.2 per cent between Q2 and Q3.
The Guido Fawkes website reported last week that Germany’s performance was predicted to half from 0.8 per cent last year to 0.4 per cent — Wednesday showing a 0.6 per cent drop in predictions to take the industrial powerhouse into the negative.
The only countries in the EU 28 that achieved a higher-than-one-per-cent growth during the third quarter of 2018 were all from the east of the bloc: Latvia (1.8 per cent), Hungary (1.2 per cent), Poland (1.7 per cent), Romania (1.9 per cent), and Slovakia (1.1 per cent).
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that eastern Europe had defied expectations and “eurozone weakness” with its “unexpectedly strong” third-quarter growth, with Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia specifically, beating economic forecasts for a downturn.
Annual growth for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia exceeded that of the euro area overall, with domestic demand, tourism, and construction book seen as drivers.
Liam Carson of Capital Economics said of eastern Europe: “Irrespective of the reasons for the pick-up in growth, it will be hard for central banks to ignore the sheer strength of these data. Policy makers in Hungary and Poland have become more hawkish at recent meetings and the Q3 figures reinforce our view that tightening cycles will begin in the coming quarters.”
Breitbart London reported Tuesday that as the UK prepares to leave the EU, wage growth has hit a ten-year high, with the country also seeing a record fall in EU migrant workers.