Brussels: The European Union's economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the second quarter, according to final Eurostat estimates out on Wednesday.
The European statistical office had previously estimated a fall in the bloc's gross domestic product of 0.2 percent.
GDP in the 16-member Eurozone also contracted more than previously thought in the second quarter - by 0.2 percent instead of 0.1 percent.
Eurostat said the differences were due to the fact that its September 2 preliminary estimates had been based on a more limited set of data. Also, first estimates of some member states had also been revised.
Year-on-year, GDP was down 4.9 percent in the 27-member EU and 4.8 percent in the eurozone.
Eurostat's final figures confirmed that both Germany and France had moved out of recession by both posting quarterly growth rates of 0.3 percent.
By contrast, other big economies like Britain, Italy and Spain remained in negative territory, while Poland was the only EU member state to post a year-on-year growth rate - 1.4 percent - in the period from April to June.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 16:24