Eurozone entered a recession at the beginning of 2023

The eurozone entered into a technical recession at the start of the year, shrinking by 0.1 percent for a second consecutive quarter, figures from the EU's statistic agency showed Thursday.

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

The worse-than-expected figures come as inflation and higher interest rates have curbed demand in Europe's largest economy.

Eurostat cut its earlier estimate of 0 per cent growth in the final quarter of 2022 and 0.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 2023 to 0.1 percent contractions in both periods.

Two consecutive quarters of shrinking gross domestic product is the threshold for a technical recession.

The bad news comes after a painful year for European economies as surging energy prices sparked by Russia's war on Ukraine sent inflation spiralling.

The European Central Bank has responded by hiking its key rates by 3.75 percentage points since embarking on an unprecedented campaign of monetary tightening in July last year.

The latest figures cast doubt over more optimistic predictions for the whole of 2023.

The European Commission forecast in mid-May that growth for the year would reach 1.1 percent across the 20 countries that use the single currency.