All output drops in Euro area

n Britain, total output dropped 1.9 percent, Eurostat said. France, Italy and Spain saw declines of 1.2 percent, 2.4 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

The GDP across the 16-member Euro area fell 2.5 percent. In the 27 countries known as the EU27, the GDP suffered a similar drop of 2.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter.

Compared to a year ago the GDP declined 4.6 percent in the 16-member Euro area and 4.4 percent in the EU27.

Latvia and Slovakia saw the sharpest declines in the quarter, both registering 11.2 percent drops compared to the fourth quarter, Eurostat said. The GDP dropped 9.5 percent in Lithuania. It dropped 6.5 percent in Estonia.
Euro area's annual inflation held close to even, at 0.6 percent in April, unchanged from a month earlier, the report said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.