This briefing by the EU Parliament provides a summary of the recent economic developments in the EU Member States and gives an overview of relevant economic projections forecasted by major international and EU institutions.

Extract: According to the latest Eurostat quarterly data, the preliminary flash estimate of the seasonally-adjusted quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the euro area (EA) grew by 2.2% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, while the growth in the EU was 2.1% during the same period. Austria (+3.8%), France (+3.0%) and Portugal (+2.9%) recorded the largest increases in GDP compared to the previous quarter, while the lowest growth rates were observed in Romania and Slovakia (+0.4%) and Lithuania (0.0%). Annualinflation(Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices or HICP) in the EA continued to increase from the end of 2020 (with a temporary and marginal decrease in June 2021) and reached 5.0% in December 2021 (up from 4.9% in November), according to the latest flash estimate from Eurostat. Out of all of the components of the HICP, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate increase (26.0% compared with 27.5% in November), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (3.2% compared with 2.2% in November), nonenergy industrial goods (2.9% compared with 2.4% in November) and services (2.4% compared with 2.7% in November). It should also be noted that HICP levels in different Member States varystrongly, from lowest annual rates observed in Malta (2.6%), Portugal (2.8%) and Finland (3.2%), while the highest annual rates were observed in Estonia (12.0%), Lithuania (10.7%) and Poland (8.0%).

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Source: Economic Governance Support Unit (EGOV) Authors: K. GRIGAIT?, J. Vega BORDELL, I. TEIXEIRA DA CUNHA Directorate-General for Internal Policies PE 645.716 -January 202