The EU upgraded its economic forecast for the eurozone on Monday despite "exceptional risks" from Brexit and the new Donald Trump administration in the United States.

The 19-country eurozone will grow by by 1.6 percent in 2017 followed by 1.8 percent in 2018, the European Commission said in its winter economic forecast, compared with predictions made in autumn of 1.5 percent in 2017 and 1.7 percent in 2018.