Eurozone growth slowed to a halt in the fourth quarter last year, dragged by contractions in major powers Germany and France which were held back by economic headwinds and political instability.

Official data Thursday showed growth stalling in the single-currency area -- disappointing predictions by analysts at Bloomberg and FactSet who forecast a 0.1-percent expansion.

The year ended in a marked slowdown compared to the third quarter -- which had exceeded analyst expectations with growth of 0.4 percent.

Annual growth for 2024 stood at 0.7 percent in the 20-nation eurozone, after 0.4 percent the previous year -- entrenching Europe's economic stagnation compared to faster growing rivals the United States and China.

Jack Allen-Reynolds, chief eurozone economist at Capital Economics, said the fourth-quarter stagnation "supports our view that the region's economic prospects are worse than most........

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