Surprising even the most optimistic forecasters, the German economy grew 1.5% in the first quarter of this year (6% on an annual basis), delivering its best performance in over a decade despite the global financial crisis and recessionary fears enveloping the United States.

The euro zone, where Germany accounts for a third of economic output among 15 members, grew 0.7% during the period (2.8% annually), the statistics agency Eurostat reported Thursday. The region's numbers, which represent quarter-on-quarter growth, also got a surprising lift from France, where the economy grew 0.6% (2.4% annually) in the first quarter.

The figures, which were about double what most economists expected, suggested that the European economy was demonstrating a resilience that seemed unlikely as recently as last autumn.

Read news reports here, here and here.

Note: First-quarter GDP estimates show that the U.S. the economy grew 0.2% when the official figure is translated into a measure comparable with the estimates published in Europe. In the U.S. quarterly growth for GDP are annualized, in Europe they are not (see adjustments above in parentheses).