According to the second estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, during the first quarter of the current year gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 0.2 percent in the euro area and by 0.1 percent in the EU-27, compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. In the previous quarter, GDP had decreased 0.6 percent in the euro area and by 0.5 percent in the EU-27, quarter on quarter.
Compared with the same quarter of 2012, in the first quarter this year seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 1.1 percent in the euro area and by 0.7 percent in the EU-27, after respectively falling one percent and 0.7 percent year on year in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter this year GDP grew by 0.6 percent in the United States and rose by 1.8 percent in Japan, both compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.