Eurozone recovery accelerates with 0.3% growth in fourth quarter

Eurozone growth accelerated to 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, enough of an improvement on 0.1 percent in the previous quarter to suggest that modest recovery remains on track, the EU's data agency said.

In its final figures for October to December growth, Eurostat confirmed the return to growth thanks to an increase in investment.

During the last three months of 2012, the then 17-nation eurozone economy expanded year-on-year by 0.5 percent.

Among the eurozone, Slovenia posted the strongest growth at 1.2 percent while Cyprus registered a slide of 0.1 percent along with Estonia while Finland saw a fall of 0.3 percent.

The bloc's biggest economy Germany showed growth of 0.4 percent in the October-December period, better than analyst forecasts for 0.3 percent, while the French economy grew 0.3 percent, below forecasts.

Italy managed only 0.1 percent.

Investments drove recovery, increasing 1.1 percent against 0.6 percent in the previous quarter, while household consumption remained stable, up 0.1 percent, on par with third quarter growth.