The eurozone economy has grown twice as fast as the UK in recent months, according to official figures that underscore the divergence between Britain and its neighbouring currency bloc after the Brexit vote.

GDP in the 19 countries that use the euro expanded 0.6% in the second quarter of 2017, building on growth of 0.5% in the first quarter, according the EU statistics body Eurostat (pdf).

In the UK by contrast, the latest official figures released last week showed the economy grew by just 0.3% in the second quarter of 2017 following 0.2% expansion in the first three months of the year. The economy had shown resilience in the immediate aftermath of last year’s EU referendum, confounding forecasts of a downturn. But growth has slowed markedly since the turn of the year as a weaker pound has raised the cost of imports, pushed up inflation and squeezed consumers.

In the eurozone, growth has quickened and unemployment has fallen against the backdrop of ultra-low interest rates and other measures by the European Central Bank (ECB) to boost activity.

Eurostat said second-quarter GDP was up 2.1% compared with a year earlier, the fastest growth since 2011 and in line with forecasts by economists in a Reuters poll.

Bert Colijn, a senior eurozone economist at the bank ING, said the bloc had enjoyed a “surprisingly strong” first half to 2017.

Eurostat did not provide any detail about what had driven growth in Tuesday’s early estimate of GDP but Colijn said domestic demand continued to be an important factor.

He added: “Some countries have already released their first estimates of second-quarter GDP growth, showing that the expansion is broad-based within the eurozone. France, Spain, Austria and Belgium all recorded solid growth rates.”

“All in all, the eurozone economy has rounded out the first half of the year in a very healthy state and seems to be set up nicely for continued firm growth for the rest of 2017.”...