Euro zone Q1 growth estimate revised down to 0.5%

Euro zone gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter, data from the European statistics agency Eurostat showed on Friday, in a downward revision from its initial estimate.

Eurostat said that GDP growth was 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 1.5 percent year-on-year.

On April 29, it had reported the fastest rate of expansion for five years, with quarterly growth of 0.6 percent and a year-on-year figure of 1.6 percent.

Of the euro zone's larger economies, German GDP increased by 0.7 percent, French GDP by 0.5 percent, in Italy by 0.3 percent and in Spain by 0.8 percent.

GDP expanded in all euro zone countries which provided data except Greece and Latvia, which contracted by 0.4 and 0.1 percent respectively. Outside the euro zone, the economies of Hungary and Poland also shrank in the first three months of the year.