Brussels, Jul 31 (IANS): Gross domestic product (GDP) in the eurozone rebounded 2 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of this year compared to the previous one on the back of two consecutive quarterly declines, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU) said.

In Q2 2021, seasonally adjusted GDP in the 27-member EU grew by 1.9 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

Year-on-year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 13.7 per cent in the eurozone and by 13.2 per cent in the EU in Q2.

Eurostat said that growth was mainly due to the progress in the Covid-19 vaccination campaigns across the bloc and to the gradual lifting of restrictions by the member states, which reignited the individual economies.

Among the EU countries for which data are available, Portugal recorded the highest quarter-on-quarter GDP increase at 4.9 per cent, followed by Austria (4.3 per cent) and Latvia (3.7 per cent).

Lithuania (0.4 per cent) and the Czech Republic (0.6 per cent) recorded the lowest increases.

Despite the threat posed by the Covid-19 Delta variant and the continuing supply chain concerns, experts at ING bank expect GDP growth to reach 2 per cent again in the third quarter of 2021.

This strong economic performance has had a positive impact on the labour market.

In a separate release, Eurostat said the unemployment rate in the eurozone fell to 7.7 per cent in June from 8 per cent a month earlier.

In the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points month-on-month to 7.1 per cent.

Some 14.9 million people were unemployed in the EU in June, including 12.5 million in the eurozone.

According to Eurostat, the annual inflation rate in the eurozone rose to 2.2 per cent in July, up from 1.9 per cent in June and exceeding the European Central Bank's 2 per cent target.

The rise in the annual inflation rate was mostly fuelled by energy prices, which are projected to increase by 14.1 per cent in July compared with 12.6 per cent in June.