Eurozone economy grew 0.3 per cent in Q4

In the final three months of 2010, Europe's recovery continued its listless performance, registering 0.3 per cent growth amid heavy snow in several countries and new spending cuts as also tax increases across the single currency bloc.

The 16 countries that were using the euro at the end of 2010 saw their economies grow by a modest 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period, Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency said.

This compared with the 0.8 per cent equivalent rate in the US but was better than the 0.3 per cent decline in Japan.

Analysts say the fourth quarter growth indicates the eurozone expanded by 1.7 per cent in 2010, exceeding expectations of many people who a year ago, had seen Europe's debt crisis explode with concerns amid Greece's ability to pay off its mountain of debts.

The 2010 growth notwithstanding, the eurozone economy is still smaller than what it was when it slid into recession at the end of 2008 when the financial crisis took hold in the wake of the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. In 2009 alone, the eurozone economy suffered a record 4.1 per cent decline.

The growth reported in the fourth quarter was along expected lines as revised forecasts following earlier figures showed that Germany and France, Europe's two biggest economies, registered less than anticipated growth - Germany's 0.4 per cent increase was modestly below expectations but France's 0.3 per cent was half what was expected.