The eurozone economy contracted again at the end of the year amid the pandemic lockdowns, Eurostat’s initial estimates showed on Tuesday.
The EU’s statistics agency said that GDP fell by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, while on an annualised basis, the economy shrank by 5.1%.
Analysts expected a 1.0% quarterly fall and a 5.4% annual contraction after a sharp rebound in the third quarter period when the euro zone eased restrictions on travel.
Following a revision of data for Q3, Eurostat said eurozone GDP expanded 12.4% in the period, compared with a first estimate of 12.7% growth.
Tuesday’s data showed that France registered a 1.3% decline, Spain registered a 0.4% GDP increase and Germany grew 0.1% in the last quarter of 2020. Italian GDP declined 2.0% during the fourth quarter.
On Monday, Eurostat said that the currency area’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.3% in December.