ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's economy contracted slightly in the last quarter of 2014 compared to the previous three-month period, a flash estimate by the European Union's statistics service Eurostat showed on Friday. The estimate on gross domestic product, based on seasonally adjusted data, showed the 182 billion euro economy shrank 0.2 percent in the Sept-to-Dec. period from a 0.7 percent quarterly growth pace in the third quarter. Year-on-year, the economy grew 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter, Eurostat said based on seasonally adjusted figures. Greece's statistics service ELSTAT's flash estimate showed the economy grew by 1.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter based on seasonally unadjusted data, from an upwardly revised 2.0 percent pace in the third quarter, below an average forecast of 2.2 percent growth by economists polled by Reuters. Athens and its EU/IMF lenders have projected growth of 0.6 percent for 2014 as a whole. The latest official estimate by the previous government's finance minister was 0.7 percent. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos)