Czechs Power EU’s Fastest GDP Growth as Romania, Hungary Stumble

The Czech economy surged at the fastest pace in the European Union, leading expansion in the region that broke free of communism a quarter-century ago even as growth in Romania and Hungary stuttered.

Czech gross domestic product rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, the fastest since 2007 and a full percentage point higher than the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. While other regional economies including Romania and Hungary slowed, the region continued to outpace the euro area and Poland had its seventh quarter of growth above 3 percent.