Italy's economy expanded 0.2 percent in January-March from the previous quarter and by 0.8 percent year-on-year, as the country continues to suffer chronically low growth, data issued by central statistics bureau Istat showed on Monday.
Italy's modest first quarter growth was in line with expectations and underperformed that of most of the other large eurozone economies, Istat said.
Istat did not provide a breakdown of the components within its preliminary estimate of gross domestic product for the first quarter but said industry contracted while the services and agriculture sectors grew.
Domestic demand boosted growth, while trade dragged it down, Istat said.
There were two more working days in the quarter than in October - December and than in the first quarter of 2016, Istat noted.
The centre-left government forecasts Italian growth of 1.1 percent this year, slightly above most independent projections.
Ratings agency Standard&Poor's predicted on Monday that Italy's economy would expand by less than 1 percent in 2017 and by 1 percent next year, citing its struggling banking sector and political gridlock as the main causes.
Italy's GDP has lagged recent industrial output and business confidence indicators. It increased by 0.9 percent in 2016, around half the average in the 19-nation eurozone and only a marginal improvement on growth of 0.8 percent in 2015.
