The European Commission today left its euro zone economic growth forecast for the first quarter unchanged at a range of 0.2-0.6% and raised its forecast by 0.1 point for the second quarter to 0.3-0.7%.
Separately, the EU statistics office Eurostat said that gross domestic product in the euro zone rose 0.2% in the fourth quarter last year from the third, and rose 1.6% from a year earlier. The figures were unchanged from Eurostat's provisional estimates.
A breakdown of the data showed domestic consumption up 0.5% from the third quarter, investments 1% higher, exports rising 0.5% and imports gaining 1%.
Eurostat revised its third-quarter GDP growth estimate lower, to 0.2% from 0.3% previously.
For the full-year 2004, the euro zone economy expanded 2% and the 25-state European Union's economy grew 2.3%, the statistics office said, confirming its previous estimates.
In comparison, the US posted GDP growth of 4.4% and Japanese output rose 2.6% last year, it noted.
Meanwhile, producer prices in the euro zone rose 0.6% in January from December, and were up 3.9% from a year earlier, Eurostat said. Economists had forecast a month-on-month rise of 0.5% and an increase of 3.8% from a year earlier.
