Eurozone: GDP grows by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter
France performs worse than expected, whilst growth slows in Germany. Spain grows by 0.6 per cent
In the third quarter, growth in GDP in the euro area stood at 0.4% compared with the second quarter (+0.6%). In the EU, growth was +0.5 per cent following +0.7 per cent. This is the flash estimate from Eurostat. Compared with the third quarter of 2025, growth was +1.3 per cent in the euro area and +1.5 per cent in the EU, following +1.2 per cent and +1.4 per cent respectively in the second quarter. In Italia, growth was 0 per cent in the third quarter (stagnation) following +0.2 per cent in the second quarter, and +0.8 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2025, following +1 per cent in the second quarter of 2026. France recorded -0.1% compared with the second quarter of 2026, Germany +0.2% and Spain +0.6%. Worse than Italia were only France and Lithuania (-1%) out of the 15 countries for which data is available.
France worse than expected
France’s gross domestic product fell by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, both on a quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis, according to preliminary estimates from the national statistics institute INSEE. This result was worse than market expectations, which had predicted an increase, albeit a minimal one. The production of goods and services fell by 0.1 per cent in the period from July to September, Insee states, whilst household consumption rose by 0.4 per cent; however, investment suffered a further significant decline (-0.6 per cent) and foreign trade also made a negative contribution to GDP, amounting to 0.6 percentage points.
German GDP growth slows
By contrast, Germany’s GDP grew by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the Federal Statistical Office Destatis. The quarterly increase marked a slowdown from the +0.3 per cent recorded in the second quarter, but the result exceeded market expectations, which had predicted minimal growth of 0.1 per cent.
In explaining the figure, Destatis states that ‘final consumption expenditure rose slightly compared with the previous quarter, after adjusting for price changes, seasonal factors and calendar effects. By contrast, provisional figures point to a fall in investment. The very strong growth in exports recorded in the first half of the year slowed considerably in the third quarter of 2026’.
Compared with the third quarter of 2025, GDP growth stood at 1.2 per cent ‘excluding price and calendar effects’. This year-on-year increase is the highest since the third quarter of 2022. It marks an acceleration from the 1% recorded in the previous quarter (+1%) and is a better result than forecast.
