Europe sees first annual growth since 2011
February 14, 2014: 8:38 AM ET
Europe's economy returned to annual growth in the last quarter of 2013 as a recovery gradually picked up pace.
Eurozone GDP rose by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, compared with the third, and by 0.5% over the same period of 2012, according to figures released Friday by Eurostat.
t was the first quarter of year-on-year growth since the end of 2011, and helped reduce the overall decline in Europe's economy last year.
The fourth-quarter acceleration was driven by a return to growth in France and Italy, which saw its first quarterly expansion in two and a half years, and a stronger performance in key economies such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
France managed growth of 0.3% over the quarter, slightly stronger than expected, afterzero growth in the third quarter. Germany, the eurozone's biggest and strongest economy, reported growth of 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, coming in slightly ahead of expectations thanks to robust exports.
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