Eurozone economy shrinks 0.2% in 1st quarter

Police officers build barricades in front of the European Central Bank, ECB, in Frankfurt, central Germany, on May 30, 2013, a day ahead of anti-capitalist protests expected to draw several thousand people. The 17-nation eurozone continued stuck in recession for a sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2013, with the economy shrinking 0.2 percent, official data showed Wednesday, June 5, 2013. AP PHOTO/DPA, BORIS ROESSLER

BRUSSELS—The 17-nation eurozone continued stuck in recession for a sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2013, with the economy shrinking 0.2 percent, official data showed Wednesday.

Compared with first quarter 2012, the eurozone economy contracted 1.1 percent, the Eurostat statistics agency said, more than the initial estimate of 1.0 percent.

For the 27-member EU, the economy shrank 0.1 percent compared with the last three months of 2012, and 0.7 percent compared with a year earlier, it said.

Among the major economies, Germany edged up 0.1 percent in the first quarter compared with the last quarter of 2012, with France down 0.2 percent, and Italy and Spain both off 0.5 percent. Portugal shrank 0.4 percent.

Britain grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter.