According to latest official figures, the German economy slowed by more than expected in Q1 2015, growing by just 0.3%.
That compares with growth of 0.7% in Q4 2015, and was below analysts’ estimates of 0.5%.
Meanwhile, the French economy grew at its fastest rate in nearly two years, expanding by 0.6% in Q1 2015.
The growth figure is the strongest since Q2 2013, when France’s economy expanded by 0.7%.
Last month, INSEE said French consumer spending grew by 1.6% in Q1 2015, boosted by lower oil prices and a weaker euro.
French industrial production grew at its fastest pace for four years in the first quarter, INSEE added.
Despite private consumption and investment in construction and industrial equipment rising. Germany saw its exports fall which held economic growth back.
The German Federal Statistics Office also released inflation data which showed consumer prices rose by 0.5% in the year to April, up from 0.3% in March.
The figure was a marginal upward revision from the first estimate of 0.4%.
Inflation in German, as in the rest of the eurozone, remains stubbornly below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target of just below 2%. The bank launched a €60 billion monthly bond buying program in March to try to stimulate the region and avoid deflation.
Italy’s economy grew slightly more than expected in the first quarter, fuelling hopes of a recovery.
The economy expanded by 0.3% in Q1 2015 having been flat in Q4 2014 and was flat on an annual basis official figures showed, beating analysts’ forecasts for 0.2% growth.
It is the first time the Italian economy has grown since Q3 2011.
An estimate of economic growth across the whole of the eurozone is due later.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is considering ways out of an acute political crisis after ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi’s ministers left the coalition government.
Giorgio Napolitano hinted that he would try to oversee the formation of a new coalition without calling elections.
This follows weeks of worsening ties between Silvio Berlusconi’s party and PM Enrico Letta’s centre-left grouping.
Silvio Berlusconi had already threatened to withdraw his ministers if he was expelled from the Senate for tax fraud.
The current coalition government was put together after inconclusive elections in February, and the latest developments cast a further shadow over Italy’s struggling economy, the eurozone’s third-largest.
It is feared that the crisis could hamper efforts to enact badly-needed reforms to tackle Italy’s economic problems, including debt, recession and high youth unemployment.
The IMF has warned that coalition tensions represent a risk to the Italian economy.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is considering ways out of an acute political crisis after ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi’s ministers left the coalition government
Speaking on Saturday, Giorgio Napolitano called for political continuity in the country.
“We need a parliament that discusses and works, not that breaks up every now and then,” he said.
“We do not need continuous election campaigns, we need continuity of the government’s actions, decisions and its measures to resolve the problems of this country.”
Later on Sunday, Giorgio Napolitano is expected to meet Enrico Letta, and their talks will be closely watched for the first indications as to how this crisis will play out.
Enrico Letta, of the centre-left Democratic Party, warned late on Friday that he would quit unless his coalition cabinet won a confidence vote due next week.
Silvio Berlusconi pre-empted that, describing Enrico Letta’s comments as “unacceptable”. He later said all five ministers of his People of Freedom (PDL) party were resigning.
The PDL is objecting to a planned increase in sales tax, which is part of wider government policy to reduce big public debts.
Interior Minister and PDL Secretary Angelino Alfano accused Enrico Letta of “a grave violation of the pacts that this government is founded on”.
But the prime minister responded angrily to the resignations, accusing the PDL leader of telling Italians a “huge lie” in using the sales tax as an alibi for his own personal concerns.
“In parliament, everyone will have to assume responsibility for their actions before the nation.”
Silvio Berlusconi’s legal problems are seen as a cause of much of the tension inside the coalition.
A committee of the Senate decides next week if he should be expelled after the Supreme Court recently upheld his conviction for tax fraud.
It was his first conviction to be confirmed on appeal in two decades of fighting legal cases.
Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in jail, but is expected to serve house arrest or community service because of his age.
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