Eurozone growth slows to 0.2% in second quarter

Economic growth in the eurozone slowed to 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of the year, down from 0.4 per cent in the previous three months. 

Eurostat's figures, published Wednesday, also showed inflation in the 19-nation single currency group dropping from 1.3 per cent in June to 1.1 in July.

This falls even further short of the European Central bank's 2.0 per cent target for a healthy economy and amounts to further evidence of a worrying slowdown. 

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate nevertheless also fell, from a revised 7.6 per cent in May to 7.5 in June, its lowest level in ten years.

The wider 28-member European Union, which includes countries outside the euro, also saw second-quarter growth shrink to 0.2 per cent, down from 0.5 in the previous period.

All these figures were in line with market expectations as estimated by data firm Factset.