Strong German and French performances drive eurozone growth

STORMING performances by the German and French economies propelled growth in the eurozone well above forecasts in the first quarter while also highlighting the yawning gap between the bloc’s strong and weak.

The 17-nation currency area expanded by 0.8% in the first three months of the year, data showed yesterday, fuelled by startling 1.5% German GDP growth with the French economy only a little off that pace, up by 1%.

Economists had forecast eurozone growth of 0.6% and analysts said the data — despite Portugal returning to recession and Greece still buried under a debt mountain — would do nothing to deter the European Central Bank from raising interest rates by July.