According to data, published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the euro area GDP fell by 0.2% and EU 27 GDP by 0.3% during the second quarter of 2009 as compared with the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2009, growth rates were minus 2.5% in the euro area and minus 2.4% in the EU 27.

In comparison with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP declined in the second quarter of 2009 by 4.8% in the euro area and by 4.9% in the EU27, after minus 4.9% and minus 4.8% respectively in the previous quarter.

In the second quarter of 2009, among Member States for which seasonally adjusted GDP data are available, Slovakia (+2.2%) recorded the highest growth rate compared with the previous quarter, followed by Slovenia (+0.7%) and Poland (+0.5%).