Weak growth was recorded in the euro zone during the third quarter of the year with gross domestic product increasing by a modest 0.2 per cent.

The effect of rising consumer spending and exports was mostly offset by a reduction in the value of stocks, the figures from statistics agency Eurostat suggest.

GDP in the European Union showed a slightly larger increase of 0.3 per cent, meaning that GDP in both the EU27 and euro area have increased by 1.4 per cent since the same time last year.

Analysts said the figures could encourage the European Central Bank to implement an interest rate cut later this week.

Consumer spending was one of the main reasons for growth with a 0.3 per cent rise recorded during the quarter. This followed a 0.5 per cent drop in the three months to the end of June.

The volume of exports increased by 1.5 per cent in the euro area and 1.2 per cent in the EU27 after smaller increases (1.1 and 0.6 per cent respectively) in the previous quarter.

Import growth accelerated in the third quarter with a 1.1 per cent increase recorded in the euro area and a 0.9 per cent rise in the EU27, following modest growth of (0.3 and 0.2 per cent ) in the second quarter.

US GDP increased at a faster rate of 0.5 per cent during the quarter with Japanese GDP increasing by 1.5 per cent in the same period.