The eurozone economy was officially out of its first-ever recession in the third quarter of this year, the European Union (EU)'s statistics office Eurostat estimated on Friday.

The flash estimates showed the combined economy of the 16-nation bloc which shares the euro grew by 0.4 percent in the third quarter of 2009, after shrinking consecutively in the previous five quarters.

Compared with the same period of last year, the eurozone economy decreased by 4.1 percent in the third quarter, after declining 4.8 percent in the previous three months.

Meanwhile, the EU economy grew by 0.2 percent in the third quarter after decreasing by 0.3 percent in the second quarter.

Compared with the same period of 2008, the combined economy of the 27-nation bloc contracted by 4.3 percent, following a drop of 4.9 percent in the previous three months.

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• Eurozone economy shows early signs of improvement 
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