The euro zone economy grew at 0.4 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) as business and other investments rose sharply while net trade was negative, a statistics agency said on Friday.
The agency said the economy of the 19 countries sharing the euro zone increased by 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while revising its year-on-year figure to 2.1 per cent from an initial 2.2 per cent.
Gross fixed capital formation rose by 1.2 per cent during the second quarter, contributing 0.3 percentage points to gross domestic product (GDP) growth, said the EU agency.
Changes in inventories, household spending and government expenditure each contributed 0.1 percentage point, the statistics agency Eurostat showed.
However, while exports rose by 0.6 per cent, imports also increased by 1.1 per cent during the quarter, meaning the net impact of foreign trade on GDP was 0.2 per centage points.
Net trade was also negative in the first quarter of 2018, but positive in the final two quarters of 2017, reports Reuters.
Among euro zone countries, growth was strongest in Malta, Estonia and Slovakia, at 1.9, 1.4 and 1.1 per cent respectively, and weakest in France, Greece and Italy, all at 0.2 per cent.
The German economy expanded by 0.5 per cent during the quarter. There were no figures for Ireland and Luxembourg.