The euro zone economy grew 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to data released on Tuesday (31) by the European statistics agency Eurostat, a result that removes the prospect of a recession that seemed imminent.
According to Eurostat, the result for the fourth quarter represents a slight fall compared to the third quarter of 2022, which had shown an increase of 0.3%, but exceeded the forecasts of many analysts, who warned of a sharper fall.
For 2022 as a whole, euro zone GDP advanced 3.5%, Eurostat pointed out.
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The impact of the war in Ukraine and the sharp rise in energy prices have cast a cloud of uncertainty over the future of the European economy, with the possibility of a recessionary scenario in the boreal winter.
The euro zone is the group of 20 of the 27 European Union (EU) countries that adopt the euro as their common currency and have the European Central Bank (ECB) as their monetary authority.
According to Eurostat, for the 27 EU countries as a whole, fourth-quarter GDP closed flat after having advanced 0.3 percent in the third quarter.
Thus, the EU as a whole closed 2022 with GDP progressing by 3.6%, Eurostat said.
According to figures from the European statistics agency, Germany closed the fourth quarter with a 0.2 percent decline, while Spain did so with a 0.2 percent rise.
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The difficult 2022 scenario has generated a gloomy expectation for the European economy in 2023.
Thus, the European Commission (the EU’s executive arm) has significantly revised downward its forecast for GDP growth in 2023, to just 0.3 percent for the countries that share the single currency, down from the 1.4 percent expected so far.
In November, the European Commissioner for the Economy, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni, warned that it was necessary to prepare for a recession, which would become evident as early as the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
