Employment in the EU was up by 0.4%, while Cyprus’ employment rate decreased by 0.2%.

GDP decline in the EU followed a strong rebound in the third quarter of 2020 (+12.5% in the euro area and +11.6% in the EU).

The sharpest decreases were observed in Q2 2020 (-11.6% in the euro area and -11.2% in the EU).

In 2020, GDP fell by 6.6% in the euro area and -6.2% in the EU, after recording growth of +1.3% and +1.6% respectively in 2019.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 4.9% in the euro area and by 4.6% in the EU in Q4 2020, after -4.2% and -4.1% respectively previous quarter.

Cyprus economy shrunk by 4.5% year on year.

Romania (+4.8%) and Malta (+3.8%) recorded the sharpest increases in GDP compared to the previous quarter, followed by Croatia and Greece (both +2.7%).

The strongest declines were observed in Ireland (-5.1%) and Austria (-2.7%), followed by Italy (-1.9%) and France (-1.4%).

During Q4 2020, household final consumption expenditure decreased by 3.0% in the euro area and by 2.8% in the EU (after +14.1% in the euro area and +13.3% in the EU the previous quarter).

Exports increased by 3.5% in the euro area and by 3.7% the EU (after +16.7% and +17.1%).

Imports also increased by 4.1% in the euro area and 4.0% in the EU (after +11.8% and +12.6%).

Household final consumption expenditure negatively contributed to GDP growth in both the euro area and the EU (-1.6 and -1.5 percentage points – pp, respectively).

In contrast, the contributions from gross fixed capital formation (+0.3 in both zones) and changes in inventories (+0.6% in both zones) were positive.

Meanwhile, employment increased 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU in Q4 2020 but decreased -0.2% in Cyprus from the previous quarter.

Covid-19 has cost millions of people in the EU their jobs, as employment was 3.5 million people below the level of Q4 in 2019.

Source: Financial Mirror