The 16-nation eurozone contracted a record 2.5 per cent in the first quarter as Europe lurched deeper into recession than the United states, an official EU estimate showed yesterday.

The eurozone suffered its deepest slump on records going back to 1995 in the first quarter as the economy shrank 4.6 per cent over one year, according to the Eurostat data agency in a first estimate.

Even though the downturn first emerged across the Atlantic, the downturn in Europe proved to be even more dramatic than in the US, where the economy shrank 1.6 per cent over one quarter and 2.6 per cent over one year.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.