The euro zone's economy is set to grow by up to 0.7% in the first quarter of 2004, building on a recovery started last year after a prolonged slowdown, the European Commission said today.
The EU executive estimated gross domestic product growth at 0.3-0.7% for the fourth quarter of 2003 - up 0.1 points on its previous forecast - and predicted the same for the first three months of this year.
The EU data agency Eurostat meanwhile confirmed that GDP in both the euro zone and the EU grew by 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2003 compared with the previous three months.
