Euro zone growth down to 0.3% in September quarter

LONDON: Indicating that the pace of growth is yet to pick up, the 16-nation euro zone economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the September quarter of 2010, much lower than the expansion rate seen in the previous three months.

The euro area -- comprising 16 countries that share the common currency euro -- had recorded healthy economic growth of 1 per cent in the June quarter last year.

Meanwhile, another set of data released today showed the jobless rate in the euro zone stood at 10.1 per cent in November, 2010.

Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union (EU), today said the euro zone GDP rose 0.3 per cent during the three-month period ended September, 2010.

During the same period, the 27-nation EU economy grew at a slightly higher rate of 0.5 per cent.

The fall in economic growth was mainly on account of lower consumer spending. Europe is witnessing a fragile recovery and in recent months, many nations in the region -- such as Greece and Ireland -- were bogged down by a severe debt crisis.

“In the third quarter of 2010, Sweden (2.1 per cent) recorded the highest growth rate compared with the previous quarter, followed by Luxembourg (1.5 per cent) and Poland (1.3 per cent),” Eurostat said in a statement.

Separately, the agency said the unemployment rate stood at 10.1 per cent in the euro zone in November last year while it stood at 9.6 per cent during the same period in the EU.

In another statement, Eurostat noted that around 23.248 million people in the EU -- out of whom 15.924 million were based in the euro area -- were unemployed in November, 2010.

“The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.4 per cent), Luxembourg (4.8 per cent) and Austria (5.1 per cent) and the highest in Spain (20.6 per cent),” it added.