BRUSSELS, March 4 (Reuters) - The euro zone economy barely grew quarter-on-quarter in the last three months of 2009, data confirmed on Thursday, as exports offset downward pressure from a continued fall in investment.
The European Union statistics office reiterated its Feb. 12 estimate that the economy of the 16 countries using the euro expanded by 0.1 percent against the third quarter and contracted by 2.1 percent from a year earlier.
The only driver behind the quarterly growth was net trade, which added 0.3 percentage point to the final outcome, as exports put on 0.6 percentage point and imports took away 0.3 percentage point.
This offset a negative contribution of 0.2 percentage point from falling private investment.
Government spending, which had added to GDP in the previous three quarters thanks to fiscal stimulus employed to cushion the economic downturn, contributed zero in the fourth quarter.
Household consumption had a zero net effect.
The contribution from inventories, which in the third quarter were the main driver of growth and added 0.5 percentage point to the overall result, was flat. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)