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.