The euro-zone economy emerged more strongly than expected from its longest postwar contraction in the three months to June, but a resolution to its banking and fiscal crises remains a distant prospect.
The European Union's official statistics agency Wednesday said the combined gross domestic product of the currency area's 17 members was 0.3% higher than in the first three months of the year, but 0.7% lower than in the second quarter of 2012. It was the fastest quarterly expansion since the first three months of 2011.
The median forecast offered by 19 economists who were surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week was for a quarter-to-quarter expansion of 0.2%, and a year-to-year decline of 0.8%.
The euro zone's return to growth after six
straight quarters of contraction was driven by Germany, its strongest and largest economy. It recorded the fastest expansion among large developed economies during the quarter.
Germany's GDP, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, swelled 0.7% in the second quarter from the preceding period, in line with economists' forecasts. That equals annualized growth of 2.9%, the statistics office said.
Source: WSJ
