New figures show that the euro zone economy lost pace in the third quarter of 2006, with growth slowing to an annual rate of 2.7% from 2.9% in the previous quarter. The data from the Eurostat agency confirmed an earlier estimate.
Separately, the European Commission projected that the euro zone economy would grow 0.3-0.7% in the final three months of 2006, unchanged from an earlier estimate dating from the end of November.
The Commission also predicted quarterly growth of 0.4-0.8% in the first three months of this year and 0.4-0.9% in the second quarter, up slightly from previous estimates.
