GDP down 3.3% in euro area, 2.7% in EU in Q1

BRUSSELS -- Euro area economy contracted 3.3 percent in the first quarter year on year, while the broader European Union economy contracted 2.7 percent year on year, the bloc's statistical office said on Thursday.

Compared with the previous quarter, the gross domestic product contracted by 3.8 percent in the euro area and by 3.5 percent in the EU, according to the preliminary flash estimate for the first quarter of 2020 by Eurostat.