Eurozone economic growth in the first quarter turned out to be lower than expected

In the first quarter of 2025, the eurozone economy grew by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter. In annual terms, eurozone GDP grew by 1.2%. This was reported by Eurostat.

Eurozone GDP grew less than expected. Previously, growth was forecast at 0.4% compared to the previous quarter and 1.2% compared to the first quarter of last year.

The European Union economy grew by 1.4% in annual terms.

Among EU member states, Ireland showed the highest quarterly growth (3.2%), followed by Poland (0.7%).

The economy of Slovenia contracted the most in the first quarter of 2025 – by 0.8%, followed by Portugal – by 0.5% and Hungary – by 0.2%.

Year-on-year growth rates were positive for 17 countries and negative for four.

Slovenia showed the largest annual decline of 0.8%, followed by Austria with 0.7% and Hungary with 0.4%. Ireland showed the largest annual increase of 10.9%.

• On May 13, IW published a forecast that Germany would not be able to avoid recession for the third year in a row due to US tariffs.
• On the same day, the EBRD downgraded its forecast for Ukraine's economic growth in 2025 to 3.3%.