The euro zone economy grew at its fastest quarterly pace in three years in the first three months of this year and could expand even more quickly in the months ahead.
The economy grew by 0.6% in the first three months of 2004 compared with the previous quarter and by 1.3% from a year earlier, the European statistics office Eurostat said today, beating revised consensus forecasts.
It was the fastest quarterly growth rate since the first quarter of 2001 and the best annual showing since the third quarter of the same year.
Eurostat showed US gross domestic product rose 1.0% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months and by 4.9% year-on-year.
