Euro zone growth halved in the fourth quarter to provide evidence of an economic slowdown and boost expectations that the ECB will cut rates within months.
GDP in the 13 countries then using the euro grew by 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter in October to December against 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, the European Union statistics office said today.
The decline was slightly less than expected as markets had forecast a 0.3 per cent quarterly increase on the basis of the performance of bloc's two biggest economies, Germany and France.
"All of the reliable leading indicators of euro zone economic growth point to even worse news ahead from the first quarter this year onwards. The worst is yet to come, of that there is no doubt," said BNP Paribas economist Kenneth Wattret.
The growth rate was twice that of the United States, where the government has decided to put $152 billion in taxpayers hands to avoid a recession and the Federal Reserve has made two hefty rate cuts.
Top euro zone policymakers said on Monday such measures were unnecessary in the single currency area, where they saw growth slowing only to around 1.8 per cent this year.
In year-on-year terms, growth slowed to 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter against an expected 2.2 per cent, and overall the euro zone economy grew 2.7 per cent last year, down from 2.8 per cent in 2006.