Eurozone growth comes off the boil in Q1

BRUSSELS — Official figures show that economic growth across the 19-country eurozone slowed in the first three months of the year.

In a preliminary estimate, Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said Wednesday that the single currency bloc grew by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter from the previous three-month period. That is the lowest since the third quarter of 2016, when growth was also 0.4 per cent.

Growth was down on the previous quarter’s hefty 0.7 per cent uptick, but in line with economists’ expectations following a run of soft activity data attributed partly to the euro’s strength.

On an annual basis, growth moderated to a still-healthy 2.5 per cent, from 2.8 per cent.

Separately, Eurostat said unemployment across the region held steady at a near 10-year low of 8.5 per cent in March.