According to statistical office ISTATA, Italian economy fell deeper into recession in the Q1 with gross domestic product or GDP falling 2.4% from the previous quarter. That was the biggest decline since the series began in 1980.

The statistic office said that the economic contraction in the first quarter was a touch higher than the expected 2.3% fall. In the fourth quarter, GDP fell a revised 2.1% following declines of 0.8% and 0.6% in the third and second quarters.

It added that on an annual basis, the economy shrunk at a faster pace of 5.9% in the first quarter, compared with a revised 3% decline in the fourth quarter. The annual decline also exceeded economists' expectations for a 5.2% drop.

Mr Guillaume Menuet of Bank of America said that "After the data today from Germany, France and Italy I expect to see euro zone growth at around -2.2 or -2.3% compared with the -2% forecast we had before.” He added that "I think we hit bottom in the first quarter, with sentiment surveys starting to rebound a bit in April. We will have another GDP fall in Q2 but not so negative as we have seen for Q1.

(Sourced from RTTNews)