The eurozone economy was stagnant in the final three months of last year, held back by shrinking German output and stalled French growth that offset a stronger than expected rebound in Spain and Italy.
The flat performance of the 20 economies that share the euro was better than the 0.1 per cent contraction forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. It followed a 0.1 per cent decline in the previous quarter and meant the eurozone grew 0.5 per cent last year, the EU’s statistics office said on Tuesday.
That left the bloc trailing the US, which last week established itself as the world’s fastest-growing advanced economy in 2023 with annual growth of 3.1 per cent. China’s government recently estimated its economy grew 5.2 per cent last year.