BBC News
13 August 2010
The German economy grew by 2.2% in the three months to the end of June, its fastest quarterly growth in more than 20 years, official figures show.
“Such quarter-on-quarter growth has never been recorded before in reunified Germany,” the national statistics office, Destatis, said.
The main reason for the higher-than-expected growth was strong exports, helped by a weaker euro.
The eurozone economy grew by 1% during the quarter.
This compares with growth of 0.2% in the first three months of the year, the area’s official statistics agency, Eurostat, said.
The French economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter, also up from 0.2%, while the Spanish economy grew by 0.2%, compared with 0.1% in the previous three months.
The pace of growth in the Italian economy remained the same, at 0.4%.
Greece, however, saw its economy shrink by 1.5% during the quarter. The country’s government has instigated a series of far-reaching austerity measures recently, designed to reduce its high budget deficit.
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