Eurozone set to stay in recession, survey finds

The eurozone economy looks set to remain in recession for the foreseeable future, following a stronger than anticipated decline at the start of the second quarter of the year.

The latest monthly purchasing managers’ index for the region — published yesterday by London-headquartered financial information services provider, Markit Group — showed a reading of 47.4 points for April. This represented a five-month low and was down from a reading of 49.1 points in March.

The index suggested a faster rate of decline in the region’s private sector economic activity than anticipated for the month and means that output has now fallen seven times in the last eight months.