Official figures show that economic growth across the 19-country eurozone slowed in the first three months of the year.
In a preliminary estimate, Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said Wednesday that the single currency bloc grew by 0.4 percent in the first quarter from the previous three-month period. That is the lowest since the third quarter of 2016, when growth was also 0.4 percent.
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Growth was down on the previous quarter’s hefty 0.7 percent uptick, but in line with economists’ expectations following a run of soft activity data attributed partly to the euro’s strength.
On an annual basis, growth moderated to a still-healthy 2.5 percent, from 2.8 percent.
Separately, Eurostat said unemployment across the region held steady at a near 10-year low of 8.5 percent in March.
