Eurozone fell into recession as energy prices soared: Data

The eurozone economy entered into a technical recession during the first three months of the year according to figures released by the European Union’s statistic agency, Eurostat.

The data released on Thursday showed that there had been contraction of 0.1% for a second consecutive quarter.

Eurostat revised down an earlier forecast that had predicted slight growth, after Germany said last month it had fallen into recession.

Inflation and higher interest rates have lowered demand in the countries that use the euro as their currency.

The latest figures also highlight the impact of the loss of Russian natural gas which caused energy prices to soar.

The worse-than-expected figures casts doubt on more optimistic forecasts for the remainder of 2023.

In May the European Commission predicted growth for the rest of the year across the eurozone.

Economic development in eurozone countries varied with Luxembourg achieving the strongest quarterly growth with 2.0% and Portugal with 1.6%.

Sharp declines were registered in Ireland, with a drop of 4.6%, Lithuania was dow 2.1%, and Germany's quarterly GDP fell by 0.3%.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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