The European Commission says in its latest economic forecast the eurozone economy will shrink by 1.9 percent this year due to the ongoing international financial crisis.

The report marks a significant downward revision from the commission's last forecast in November, which predicted growth of 0.1 percent for the eurozone in 2009.

The contraction was bigger than the 0.5 percent predicted by the European Central Bank last month. The eurozone economy plunged into a technical recession in the third quarter of 2008 after registering negative growth of 0.2 percent in two consecutive quarters.

Joaquin Almunia, commissioner, european economic and monetary affairs said, "The EU is expected to contract this year minus 1.8 per cent - minus 1.9 for the euro-area- mainly as a result of falling investments. You can see a very pronounced fall down of investment - minus 5.9 - minus-5.5 in the euro-area. Employment will also decrease minus 1.6 per cent in 2009 and will continue to have negative figures - more moderate than in 2009 - still in 2010."

(CCTV January 21, 2009)