The eurozone has fallen into recession, with industry particularly badly hit by the fallout from global economic turmoil, survey results indicated yesterday.

Private-sector output in the 15-country region has contracted in September for the fourth consecutive month, according to eurozone purchasing managers' indices.

The pace of decline is the fastest since the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, with manufacturing faring worse than services.

The findings indicate that global economic storms have pushed the region into a technical recession – two quarters of contracting gross domestic product.

The eurozone composite purchasing managers' index – covering services as well as manufacturing – fell from 48.2 in August to 47 this month. (A figure below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.)

Chris Williamson, an economist at Markit, the information group that produces the survey, said the readings were consistent with stagnation. But the results excluded the construction and retailing sectors, which had fared even worse over the period.

“So you are looking at recession,” he concluded. Eurozone GDP had fallen by 0.2 per cent in the three months to June.

There was better news on the inflation front, with the survey showing that costs of companies' inputs were rising at their weakest rate since October 2007, largely as a result of lower oil and other commodity prices.

調查結果昨日表明，歐元區已陷入衰退，其中工業受到全球經濟動蕩的沖擊尤為嚴重。

歐元區采購經理人指數(PMI)顯示，歐元區15國私營部門產出9月份已連續第4個月下降。

這一下降速度是自2001年9月恐怖主義襲擊事件以來的最高值，其中制造業表現比服務業更為糟糕。

調查結果表明，全球經濟風暴已將該地區推入技術意義上的衰退——國內生產總值(GDP)連續兩個季度下降。

歐元區采購經理人綜合指數（包括服務業以及制造業）從8月份的48.2下降至本月的47。（該指數低于50時表明經濟活動出現收縮。）

進行此項調查的信息集團Markit經濟學家克里斯·威廉姆森(Chris Williamson)表示，這些解讀與經濟停滯相符。不過，該結果不包括建筑業和零售業，而這兩個行業在這段時期境遇甚至更糟。

他總結道，“因此，你正看到衰退。”歐元區國內生產總值在截至6月份的三個月內下降了0.2%。

在通脹方面顯現出了好消息，調查顯示，企業投入成本增速為2007年10月以來的最低值，這在很大程度上是由于油價和其它大宗商品價格的下降。