EU GDP up estimated 0.4% in Q405

Full-year growth at 1.6%

GDP grew in real terms by 0.3% in the euro-zone and by 0.4% in the EU25 during the fourth quarter of 2005, compared to the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Data for Cyprus in the fourth quarter are not yet available.

In the third quarter of 2005, growth rates were +0.6% in both the eurozone and the EU25, while growth in Cyprus rose by 0.9%.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP grew by 1.7% in the euro-zone and by 1.8% in the EU25 in the fourth quarter of 2005, after +1.6% and +1.8% respectively in the previous quarter. In Cyprus year-on-year growth in the third quarter was 3.9%.

Potentially good news for the Cyprus tourism industry is that growth in the UK accelerated slightly in the fourth quarter, rising by 0.6% on the previous quarter in Q4 2005, compared with 0.4% in the third quarter. The year-on-year growth rate in the UK was 1.7%.

Britain supplies more than half of Cyprus’ tourists.

Growth in 2005

Over the whole year 2005, GDP grew by 1.3% in the euro-zone and by 1.6% in the EU25, compared to +2.1% and +2.4% respectively for the year 2004.

In the US, GDP growth for the year 2005 was +3.5%, after +4.2% in 2004, while the government estimates that the growth rate in Cyprus for 2005 will be around 4%.