Eurozone Q1 GDP revised upwards, beats market consensus of no change

Euro zone first quarter gross domestic product has been revised upward, beating market anticipation of no change in the revision statistics. Optimism seems to spur from a buoyant environment of consumer spending at the start of 2016, emerging from a weak Euro and still declining crude oil prices.

Quarterly economic growth in the Eurozone hit 0.6 percent in the first three months of the year, revised up from an earlier estimate of 0.5 percent, data released by the Eurostat showed. However, the statistics agency seems unclear about the GDP figures of the Euro area. The first estimate was 0.6 percent, which was revised down to 0.5 percent in the second round, and now in the third report, which includes details on GDP components, the figure has been revised back to its original estimate.

Meanwhile, annual growth remained unchanged at 1.7 percent, from the fourth quarter, driven by a jump in consumer spending and investment. Imports also outpaced the rate of export growth, rising by 0.7 per cent, while the value of goods sold was 0.4 percent.

Greece remained the single Euro area which fell into outright contraction at the beginning of the year, shrinking by 0.5 percent.