Ukraine war curbs euro zone growth in Q1 – preliminary data

pThe European Unions statistics office Eurostat said gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.2 quarteronquarter for a 5.0 yearonyear gain. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 0.3 quarterly growth.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pThe European Commission also forecast just before the Russian invasion that growth would be 0.3 quarteronquarter, so the preliminary Eurostat data, if confirmed later, would suggest the war and related commodity price spikes cut growth by 0.1 percentage points.p

pEurostat said Italys economy contracted 0.2 in the first quarter against the previous three months, which would make it the biggest euro zone casualty of the conflict. In February, the Commission forecast Italy would grow 0.3. p

pGermany, expected by the Commission to grow 0.4 in the first quarter grew by only 0.2, Eurostat said and France recorded no growth according to Eurostat against a Commission February forecast of 0.1 expansion.p