Ireland records highest GDP growth in EU

Ireland recorded the highest GDP growth rate in the EU during the first quarter of 2010, a new report said today.

The figures from Eurostat, the European Commission's statistical service, show Ireland's Q1 GDP up 2.7% compared with the previous quarter.

Overall, GDP in the 16-country eurozone and the 27-member wider bloc both increased by 0.2% during the first quarter of 2010.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, growth rates were up 0.1% in the euro area and 0.2% in the EU27.

"In comparison with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose in the first quarter of 2010 by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU27, after -2.1% and -2.3% respectively in the previous quarter," Eurostat said.

"In the first quarter of 2010, among Member States for which seasonally adjusted GDP data are available, Ireland (+2.7%) recorded the highest growth rate compared with the previous quarter, followed by Sweden (+1.4%) and Portugal (+1.1%)."

At the bottom of the table was Lithuania, which saw GDP decline by 3.9% in the first quarter.