the eurozone narrowly avoided a recession in the winter after upgraded statistics showed the bloc stagnated in the first quarter of the year eurozone gross national product flatlined in the first three months of 2023 according to european union statistics agency eurostat in new figures released more than a month after the official final print in previous data eurostat said the euro areas economy contracted by 01 in the first quarter the same as in the fourth quarter of 2022 the new data means the 20nation bloc avoided a technical recession typically defined as two quarters of negative growth the upgrade was prompted by upward revisions to a handful of nations they included spain where the economy grew by 06 compared with the 05 previously reported ireland where gdp declined by 28 from 46 in the prior release and the netherlands where gdp contracted by 03 rather than 07 however the eurozones economy is set to remain sluggish over the course of the year slowing to growth of 09 from 34 last year according to european central bank forecasts published in june