Croatia ranked among the EU countries with a more pronounced growth in economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2022, while at the level of the European Union and the Eurozone, the economy stagnated, new Eurostat estimates showed on Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) of the EU was 0.1 percent lower in the fourth quarter of last year than in the previous three months, Eurostat calculated. The previous assessment showed stagnation.

On an annual basis, the EU economy grew by 1.7 percent in the last three months of 2022, 0.1 percentage point lower than previous Eurostat estimates showed.

The estimate of activity growth in the eurozone was also lowered by 0.1 percentage point, which now shows 1.8 percent growth compared to the same period in 2021.

In the third quarter of last year, the economy of the EU grew by 2.6 percent, and the economy of the eurozone by 2.4 percent.

The leading European economies weakened at the end of 2022, so German GDP decreased by 0.4 percent compared to the previous three months, when it grew by 0.5 percent. Activity in the Italian economy also decreased, by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter, when it grew by 0.4 percent.

Polish GDP fell the most in the large group, by 2.4 percent compared to the summer quarter, when it grew by 1.0 percent. The French economy grew by 0.1 percent, half as weak as in the period from July to September.

The Greek GDP grew the most, by 1.4 percent compared to the previous three months, Malta and Cyprus follow with GDP growth of 1.2 and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Croatia is also close behind, with growth in economic activity in the last quarter of last year, according to seasonally adjusted data, by 0.9 percent compared to the previous three months when it decreased by 0.5 percent.