Eurozone growth slowed to 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 (October-December), a reduction of 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, according to the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat.
The eurozone, which includes the 19 countries in the European Union that share the euro, was only expected to post a slight drop in growth – to 0.2 percent for the final quarter.
The EU mirrored the slowdown of the eurozone, with growth contracting to 0.1 percent, down from 0.3 percent in the previous quarter.
Eurozone growth has slowed, driven down by poor economic performances by Italy and France (Credit: AP)
Countries such as Italy and France were major catalysts for the overall slowdown in growth, with worrying reductions of 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent respectively in the fourth quarter of 2019.
France's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined for the first time since the second quarter of 2016, with exports, imports and consumer spending all down.
There was also a sharp drop in business investment growth, with companies previously blaming the national strikes that have plagued the country and a lack of confidence for the future. This will almost certainly put pressure on France's president, Emmanuel Macron, to turn this around.
Italy's contraction represents its worst quarterly performance since 2013, with ISTAT, Italy's statistics body, largely blaming weak domestic demand.
The French economy has been hit by nationwide strikes. (Credit: AP)
Despite the overall reduction in both the eurozone and EU, countries such as Spain (0.5 percent), Belgium (0.4 percent) and Austria (0.3 percent) posted increased growth.
According to Eurostat's first estimation of annual growth for 2019, based on quarterly data, GDP grew by 1.2 percent in the eurozone and 1.4 percent in the EU.