Luxembourg, 14/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - GDP grew by 0.6% both in the euro-zone and in the EU25 during the first quarter of 2004, compared to the previous quarter, according to initial estimates published on Friday by Eurostat. In the fourth quarter of 20034, growth rates were +0.4% for the euro-zone and +0.5% for the EU25. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP grew by 1.3% in the euro-zone and by 1.6% in the EU25 in the first quarter of 2004, after +0.6% and +1.0% respectively in the previous quarter. Commission indicator forecasts euro area quarterly GDP growth of 0.3% to 0.7% for the 2nd and 0.4% to 0.8% for the 3rd quarter of 2004. The indicator-based model for quarterly GDP growth for the euro area, developed by the European Commission, forecasted a range of 0.3% to 0.7% for GDP growth in the second quarter of 2004, unchanged compared to the previous release. Given some improvement in the underlying data, the range for the third quarter is higher at 0.4-0.8%.