Eurozone hauled out of 18-month recession by Germany and France | Business | theguardian.com

Spain and Italy both remain in recession. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

A strong performance by Germany and France helped haul the battered eurozone out of recession in the three months to June.

Figures released in Brussels showed that the 17 nations using the single currency expanded by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2013.

The return to growth brings to an end six successive quarters of contraction but the data from Eurostat, the European's statistical agency, revealed a big disparity in growth rates and Ollie Rehn, Europe's economic commissioner, said it was too early to celebrate.

"Yes, this slightly more positive data is welcome – but there is no room for any complacency whatsoever", Rehn said. "I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting 'the crisis is over'. For we all know that there are still substantial obstacles to overcome: the growth figures remain low and the tentative signs of growth are still fragile."

Financial markets had been expecting the eurozone to grow by 0.2% in the second quarter and the slightly stronger outcome was the result of the big two economies both exceeding forecasts. Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, grew by 0.7% while France – the second biggest – grew by 0.5%.

But Italy and Spain both remained in recession. Spain's economy shrank by 0.1% percent on the quarter, while Italy posted a 0.2% decline. The Dutch economy also contracted by 0.2% but Portugal – one of the three countries that required a financial bailout – recorded the fastest growth of any eurozone country with 1.1% quarterly growth.

David Brown, of New View Economics said: "These are better than expected second-quarter GDP numbers from the eurozone, but it's nothing for the ECB to celebrate. After six quarters of unrelenting recession misery, the eurozone has finally broken back into positive growth. It is going to be a very long, hard haul back into sustainable, strong growth again.

"It is a tale of two very different economies. Germany is doing all the hard work in the vanguard of strong recovery as its 0.7% second-quarter GDP expansion showed. On the other side of the equation, the troubled eurozone economies are still mired down in the mud of deep recession risk."