Official figures show that economic growth in the euro zone slowed only marginally in the first quarter to an annual rate of 3.1%.
The figure from the Eurostat agency was slightly higher than its previous 3% estimate. But it marked a slight dip from the final three months of 2006 when the rate was 3.3%, the fastest growth in six years.
The quarterly growth figure was also lifted slightly from 0.6% to 0.7%. Growth was widely expected to slow slightly at the beginning of the year as consumers in Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, were hit with a full three percentage point increase in VAT.
Separate Eurostat figures showed that factories and refineries in the euro zone raised their production in May roughly in line with economists' expectations. Industrial output in the euro zone rose 0.9% in May from April and 2.5% over 12 months.
