French business activity shrank in March at the fastest pace in four years, defying expectations for an improvement and probably plunging the euro zone's second-biggest economy into a recession, a survey showed on Thursday, reports Reuters.
Data compiler Markit said its preliminary composite purchasing managers' index, covering activity in the manufacturing and services sector combined, came out at 42.1, falling from 43.1 in February.
The drop brought the index to its lowest level since March 2009, when France and much of the developed world was mired deep in a recession triggered by the financial crisis.
Separate figures for the services and manufacturing sectors showed that business activity was retreating even faster than economists polled by Reuters had forecast.
Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said the figures suggested the nearly 2 trillion euro economy could contract by as much as 0.7 percent this quarter after slumping 0.3 percent in the previous three months.
That would mean that France, which has already abandoned its 2013 deficit target due to the lack of growth, has entered its third recession since the financial crisis.
Read more of this report from Reuters.