BRUSSELS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone economy expanded at its most rapid rate in a decade, underlining Europe's roaring economic recovery, official data showed on Tuesday.

The Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of the single currency area expanded by 2.5 percent in 2017, the fastest growth rate since a 3.0 percent rise in 2007,the year before the global financial crisis broke out, Eurostat, the European Union 's statistics agency said.

In the wider 28-member EU, growth rate in 2017 also stood at 2.5 percent.

"Economic growth has shifted to a substantially faster growth path over the course of 2017, and current GDP data confirms that,"said Bert Colijn, economist at ING bank.

"Investment has yet to fully recover from the crisis but has been an essential contributor to growth during the year," he added.

"However, the big question for 2018 is whether the stronger euro will offset the effects of improving external demand. The high growth in Q4 means that the carry-over effect for 2018 is very favorable. We expect euro zone GDP growth to come in at 2.4 percent again this year." Colijn said.