The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015, slightly slower than expected, data published by the federal statistics office Destatis showed on Wednesday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.3 percent in price, calendar and seasonally adjusted terms in the period from January to March compared with the preceding three months, Destatis said in a statement. Analysts had been pencilling in first-quarter growth of 0.5 percent after GDP expanded by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014.