According to data released on Friday, GDP in the euro area fell by 12.1% and by 11.7% in the EU compared to the previous quarter, according to Eurostat estimates.

This is the largest contraction since 1995. In the first quarter of 2020, GDP fell by 3.6% in the euro area and by 3.2% in the EU. Compared to the same quarter last year, GDP fell by 15.0% in the euro area and by 14.1% in the EU in the second quarter of 2020, after -3.1% and -2.5% respectively in the previous quarter.

also read 

Byzantine mosaics continue to be veiled in Hagia Sophia, despite initial promises

PM Mitsotakis: New Covid-19 measures to be announced on Friday

Jennifer Lopez secretly holidays in Crete (photos)

These were also by far the largest declines since 1995. In the second quarter of 2020, GDP in the United States fell by 9.5% compared to the previous quarter (after -1.3% in the first quarter of 2020). Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP decreased by 9.5% (after + 0.3% in the previous quarter).

The euro zone’s trade surplus with the rest of the world ballooned in June to 21.2 billion euros ($25 billion) as the bloc’s drop in imports of goods outpaced the fall of exports amid a global slide in trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic.