Eurozone Growth in 2017 Finally Put at 2.3 Pct

The economy of the 19-member eurozone grew at 2.3 percent year on year in 2017, slightly lower than the previous estimate of 2.5 percent, official data revealed on Wednesday.

"Over the whole year 2017, gross domestic products (GDP) rose by 2.3 percent in the euro area and by 2.4 percent in the EU, compared with 1.8 percent and 2.0 percent respectively in 2016," European Union (EU) statistics agency Eurostat said in a statement.

In a February report, Eurostat estimated that GDP grew by 2.5 percent last year in both the eurozone and the 28-member European Union area.

Eurostat data also showed that the seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.6 percent in both the eurozone and the EU in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with the previous quarter.

The rate is slightly slower than the third quarter's 0.7 percent.

"Among member states for which data are available for the fourth quarter of 2017, Estonia (2.2 percent), Slovenia (2.0 percent) and Lithuania (1.4 percent) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter," the agency said.

Greece and Croatia recorded the lowest growth both at 0.1 percent, followed by Italy and Latvia both at 0.3 percent, it added.

The 0.6-percent quarterly growth was driven mainly by net exports. Figures showed that exports rose by 1.9 percent in the euro area and by 1.7 percent in the EU in the fourth quarter after 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively in the previous quarter.

"Timelier evidence suggests that growth is no longer accelerating, but we still expect the economy to continue growing at a fairly strong pace this year," according to analysis by European Economics.