BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua)-- New industrial orders rose by 1.5 percent in the 16-nation eurozone in February compared with the previous month, official data said Friday.

The European Union statistic bureau Eurostat said that in the 27-member EU, new orders rose by 1.1 percent in February after an increase of 0.3 percent in January.

Compared with the same month last year, new industrial orders increased 12.2 percent in the eurozone and 12.7 percent in the EU.

Among the various industries, only non-durable consumer goods in February dropped 1.2 percent in the eurozone and 2.7 percent in the EU, compared with the previous month.

On a monthly basis, new orders for intermediate goods rose 2.6 percent in the eurozone, while durable consumer goods increased 2.5 percent and capital goods rose 2.3 percent.

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BRUSSELS, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Public deficit of the Eurozone in 2009 reached 6.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the 16-member bloc, which more than doubled the 3 percent ceiling set by the European Union (EU), the EU statistical bureau Eurostat said on Thursday.

According to the Eurostat, public deficit to the GDP ratio of the Eurozone rose from 2 percent in 2008 to 6.3 percent in 2009, while public debt to the GDP ratio increased from 69.4 percent in 2008 to 78.7 percent at the end of 2009.

BRUSSELS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Construction output in the eurozone slumped by 3.3 percent compared with the previous month, which was the largest decrease since 2001, European Union (EU) statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday.

Compared with a year ago, output in February dropped by 15.2 percent in the eurozone.

MADRID, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone finance ministers agreed on Friday to improve economic coordination to prevent recurrence of the Greek debt crisis.

"We need to reinforce economic governance in Europe. There is a pressing and urgent need to strengthen economic policy coordination and countries' budgetary surveillance," European Union (EU) Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters after informal talks with eurozone finance ministers in Madrid on Friday.