According to the first estimate, unadjusted GDP was down 0.8% in the third quarter of 2024, while the seasonally and working-day adjusted volume decreased by 0.7% in annual terms. Compared with the previous quarter, GDP fell by 0.7%, the worst growth outcome in the EU according to the data known so far. In the first three quarters of 2024, the volume of GDP edged up by 0.6%.
On the production side, the combined growth contribution of agriculture, industry and construction was about -2% in the third quarter, according to the CSO, while the ability of the services sector to offset the drag by the primary and secondary sectors was much more limited than expected. A deceleration in services raises the possibility that on the expenditure side, it was not just the continuing fall in investments that weighed on growth but private consumption also failed to gain additional momentum in the third quarter – it could even weaken instead, despite the strong real wage growth, possibly due to the contradictory trends on the labor market.
