The eurozone economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter of 2025, official data showed Thursday, buoyed by better-than-anticipated growth in France despite political turmoil in Europe鈥檚 second-biggest economy.
The EU鈥檚 data agency said the 20-country single currency area recorded growth of 0.2 per cent over the July-September period from the previous quarter.
The figure was higher than the 0.1 per cent forecast by analysts for Bloomberg and FactSet 鈥� but economists sounded a note of caution for the future.
鈥榃hile we do expect a gradual acceleration of growth over the coming year, we remain cautious about marking this as the start of a growth spurt, given domestic and global uncertainty,鈥� ING Bank鈥檚 Bert Colijn said in a note.
Thursday鈥檚 data also showed the eurozone economy grew by only 0.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
The data arrived as the European Central Bank is expected to keep its key deposit rate steady later on Thursday.
The 27-country European Union economy expanded by 0.3 per cent, after recording 0.2 per cent growth between April and June.
The eurozone economy was supported by surprising data from France.
Despite political instability linked to the country鈥檚 massive debt and deficit,聽the French economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter.
The surprise was thanks to a jump in investments and exports 鈥榠n part because of a strong aerospace sector, which tends to see volatile production鈥�, Colijn said.
Spain鈥檚 economy also grew by 0.6 per cent between July and September, but it slowed down from a whopping 0.8 per cent in the previous quarter.
But Germany, Europe鈥檚 biggest economy, stagnated in the same period although it narrowly dodged a recession.
The Italian economy also failed to grow between July and September.
In September, the ECB raised its growth forecast for 2025 to 1.2 per cent.
Despite eking out growth in the third quarter, economists warned against reading too much into the data and what it means for the future.
France鈥檚 political turmoil risks being a drag, especially as France鈥檚 hung parliament remains locked in debate over next year鈥檚 budget.
Meanwhile, Germany鈥檚 planned public spending blitz 鈥榗ontinues to struggle to make stimulus plans turn into GDP growth鈥�, Colijn said.
ECB officials are gathering in Florence, Italy, on one of their regular tours away from the central bank鈥檚 Frankfurt headquarters, with the rate decision set to be published at 1315 GMT.
