According to the flash estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, during the first quarter of this year gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.5 percent both in the euro area and in the EU-28 compared to the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter of last year, GDP had increased by 0.5 percent in the euro area and by 0.6 percent in the EU-28, on quarter-on-quarter basis.
Compared with the same quarter of 2016, in the first quarter this year seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.7 percent in the euro area and rose by two percent in the EU-28, after respectively rising by 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent year on year in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2017 GDP in the United States increased by 0.2 percent quarter on quarter and rose by 1.9 percent year on year.