Portugal was the second-highest growing eurozone country in Q4

  • ECO News
  • 15 February 2022

Portugal recorded the second-highest growth rate in the Eurozone between October and December, only behind Spain. The single currency economy cooled in the fourth quarter.

The Eurozone economy grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, slowing down from the previous quarter, when GDP had increased by 2.3%, with the economic activity being penalised by the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of Omicron. Portugal recorded the second-highest quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth in the Eurozone.

In the European Union as a whole, growth stood at 0.4% between October and December, below the 2.2% of the previous three months, according to data revealed this Tuesday by Eurostat.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, “GDP increased by 4.6% in the euro area and by 4.8% in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2021, after +3.9% in the euro area and +4.1% in the EU in the previous quarter,” added the European Statistic’s Office.

Portugal among fastest-growing economies

The 1.6% growth registered by the Portuguese economy in the fourth quarter, compared to the previous three months, was the second most robust in the Eurozone, only behind the 2% recorded by Spain, Eurostat data show. Looking at year-on-year (YoY) terms, Portugal posted the fourth-highest growth, behind Italy (6.4%), Cyprus (6%) and the Netherlands (6%).

If the analysis is extended to the entire EU, Portugal has the fourth-highest growth rate among the countries for which the data is already available, behind Hungary (2.1%), Spain and Poland (1.7%).