Euro zone economy grew faster than initially thought in Q4

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The euro zone economy grew faster in the final quarter of 2024 than first estimated but nearly all of the revision is due to Ireland, where a large multinational sector often distorts data, figures from Eurostat showed on Friday.

GDP in the 20 nations sharing the euro currency grew by 0.2% on the quarter, above the 0.1% estimated earlier but figures for most countries were unchanged from preliminary data, including for Germany and France, which both contracted.

The Irish economy was initially thought to have contracted by 1.3% but is now estimated to have grown 3.6%, a distortion that does not signal any change in the prospects of a lethargic bloc.

The euro zone economy is barely expanding as households hold back consumption, governments have little cash to spend, industry is in recession and firms are withholding investment as they await clarity on U.S. trade policies.

The European Central Bank now expects the bloc to grow by just 0.9% this year, the same as in 2024, with risks skewed towards even lower readings, it said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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