Germany's economy crept back into growth at the start of the year but not by enough to stop the Euro zone from contracting for a sixth straight quarter, and France slid into recession.
Falling output across the bloc meant the 17-nation economy is in its longest recession since records began in 1995.
It shrank 0.2 per cent in the January to March period, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, worse than the 0.1 per cent contraction forecast by a Reuters poll. "The misery continues," said Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING in Brussels. "Almost all core countries bar Germany are in recession and so far nothing has helped in stopping this downward spiral."
As well as France, the economy shrank for the quarter in Finland, Cyprus, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Greece. Data last month showed Spain's economy contracted for a seventh consecutive quarter. Germany, which generates almost a third of the Euro zone's economy, grew by a weaker than expected 0.1 per cent, skirting the recession that France succumbed to, but highlighting the devastating impact of the Euro zone's debt and banking crisis that has driven unemployment to a record 19 million people.
France's downturn was its first in four years, after contracting by 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, as it did in the last quarter of 2012. Italy, the Euro zone's third largest economy, reported its seventh consecutive quarter of decline, the longest since records began in 1970.
The Euro zone's recession is now longer than the five quarters of contraction that followed the global financial crisis in 2008/2009, although it is not as deep. The euro fell to a six-week low against a buoyant dollar, hurt by the anaemic figures which kept alive chances of more monetary easing by the European Central Bank.
Falling output across the bloc meant the 17-nation economy is in its longest recession since records began in 1995.
It shrank 0.2 per cent in the January to March period, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, worse than the 0.1 per cent contraction forecast by a Reuters poll. "The misery continues," said Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING in Brussels. "Almost all core countries bar Germany are in recession and so far nothing has helped in stopping this downward spiral."
As well as France, the economy shrank for the quarter in Finland, Cyprus, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Greece. Data last month showed Spain's economy contracted for a seventh consecutive quarter. Germany, which generates almost a third of the Euro zone's economy, grew by a weaker than expected 0.1 per cent, skirting the recession that France succumbed to, but highlighting the devastating impact of the Euro zone's debt and banking crisis that has driven unemployment to a record 19 million people.
France's downturn was its first in four years, after contracting by 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, as it did in the last quarter of 2012. Italy, the Euro zone's third largest economy, reported its seventh consecutive quarter of decline, the longest since records began in 1970.
The Euro zone's recession is now longer than the five quarters of contraction that followed the global financial crisis in 2008/2009, although it is not as deep. The euro fell to a six-week low against a buoyant dollar, hurt by the anaemic figures which kept alive chances of more monetary easing by the European Central Bank.