Eurozone growth rate unexpectedly doubles

The eurozone's economic growth rate doubled in the first three months of the year compared to the fourth quarter — to 0.6%, the Eurostat statistics agency said Friday.

The relatively strong expansion rate, its fastest in a year, was not expected and comes amid a challenging economic recovery for the region in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Eurozone GDP is now above levels last seen prior to the crisis, Eurostat said.

Consensus forecasts predicted a rise to 0.4%. On an annual basis, GDP growth in the 19-nation currency bloc hit 1.6%.

The broader European Union political bloc saw growth of 0.5% in the first quarter compared to 0.4% in the fourth quarter.

The growth figures will boost those worried by the eurozone's weak GDP performance after the crisis, but the region remains afflicted by low inflation. Eurostat said in a separate report that consumer prices in the year to April fell by 0.2%. That’s down from the previous month’s annual rate of zero.

The European Central Bank targets an inflation just below 2%. European stocks reacted negatively to the inflation data, falling 1%.