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Eurozone economy shrank in the fourth quarter of 2011 by 0.3 percent on a quarterly basis, the first drop since the second quarter of 2009, according to the statistics office of the European Union (EU) Wednesday.

The contraction of the eurozone economy was in contrast with a 0.1-percent quarterly growth seen in the third quarter of 2011, said Eurostat in a statement on its website.

Europe's largest economy Germany saw its gross domestic product (GDP) fall 0.2 percent from the third quarter last year, compared with a 0.6-percent quarter-on-quarter growth registered in the third quarter, according to Eurostat.

France, the second largest economy in the eurozone, beat expectations that its economy would have been in recession in the fourth quarter last year by recording a growth of 0.2 percent, although slightly lower than the 0.3-percent growth seen in the previous quarter.

Italy saw its GDP shrink by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, a second consecutive quarterly contraction for the eurozone's third largest economy which has been mired in the debt crisis.

The economy of the 27-nation EU also contracted by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter last year after a 0.3-percent growth in the third quarter, said Eurostat.

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