The eurozone economy shrunk by 0.3 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2011 as the region's debt crisis triggered a slump in private consumption, trade and corporate spending, official data released Tuesday, March 6 confirmed.

This came after the region's economy stagnated during the third quarter, the European Union statistics office Eurostat said releasing the data.

As M&C reported citing DPA, many economists are expecting the eurozone will slide back into recession this year in the wake of slower global growth and moves by governments across the currency bloc to cut high deficit-and-debt levels by slashing their state sectors. The European Commission expects the eurozone to contract by 0.3 per cent this year.

The Eurostat data showed eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 0.7 per cent when the final quarter of 2011 is compared with the year earlier. For the full-year 2011 the currency bloc grew by 1.4 per cent - down from 1.9 per cent in 2010.

The Eurostat data confirmed the preliminary figures it published last month. The figures showed private consumption falling by 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter and fixed investment sinking by 0.7 per cent. While exports dropped by 0.4 per cent in the last three months of 2011, imports tumbled by 1.2 per cent.

GDP in 27-member EU also contracted by 0.3 per cent in fourth quarter after growing by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter. The EU economy grew by 0.9 per cent in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2010.

For the full-year of 2011, the EU economy expanded by 1.5 per cent - down from 2 per cent in 2010.

Over the whole year 2011, GDP increased by 1.7 per cent in the United States after expanding by 3.0 per cent in 2010. GDP contracted by 0.9 per cent in Japan following a 4.4-per-cent expansion rate in 2010.