Europe’s economy sees meagre growth

Frankfurt: The European economy scraped out meager growth in the first three months of the year, barely gaining momentum as stubborn inflation raises the price of groceries and erodes people's willingness to spend paychecks that are failing to keep pace.

Friday's less-than-stellar increase of 0.1 per cent from the previous quarter follows disappointing growth estimates from the US, which kept alive fears of a looming recession in the world's largest economy. The 20 countries that use the euro currency picked up a little speed from January through March after zero growth in the last three months of 2022.

The eurozone avoided a winter recession thanks to mild weather that alleviated pressure on natural gas supplies. European governments and utilities also scrambled to line up additional sources to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories after Russia cut off most of its supply to the continent over its war against Ukraine. Germany, Europe's largest economy, turned in disappointing zero growth from the previous quarter. After a contraction of 0.5 per cent at the end of 2022, the country is in the “recession danger zone”, said Carsten Brzeski, chief of global macro at ING bank.