Economic growth in the eurozone rebounded to 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, the European Union's (EU) statistics bureau Eurostat said Thursday.
It accelerated from the 0.4 percent growth rate observed in the fourth quarter of 2007 and was higher than economists' predictions.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the seasonally adjusted growth rate was 2.2 percent in the 15-nation bloc sharing the same currency euro, the same with the final three months of 2007.
The unexpected good performance was mainly supported by a remarkable result in Germany. The eurozone's largest economy grew by 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, compared with 0.3 percent in the previous three months.
In the 27-nation EU, economic growth in the first quarter was also 0.7 percent, higher than the 0.5 percent registered in the fourth quarter of 2007.
However, analysts warned against over optimism about the figures since both business and consumer confidences were weakening, indicating a downturn trend ahead.
The European Commission said in its latest economic forecasts that the eurozone economy would grow by 1.7 percent this year, significantly slowing down from 2.6 percent last year. For the EU, the growth rate this year would be 2.0 percent, compared with 2.8 percent in 2007.
Source: Xinhua
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