The eurozone's fragile economic recovery suffered a setback in the first quarter after slower-than-expected growth.

The combined currency bloc scraped together growth of 0.2% between January and March, in line with growth in the previous quarter but disappointing expectations of 0.4% growth. The weak performance will heap further pressure on the European Central Bank to take action to boost the flagging region, after months of speculation.

Peter Vanden Houte, economist at ING, described the official data as "dismal".

There was a huge divergence in fortunes, with Germany growing at the fastest rate of all 18 countries, with gross domestic product increasing by 0.8%. It followed 0.4% growth in Europe's largest economy in the previous quarter.

The pace of recovery also accelerated in Spain, with growth of 0.4% outpacing a 0.2% increase in GDP in the previous three months.

At the bottom of the pile was the Netherlands, which suffered a shock 1.4% contraction in GDP, reversing 1% growth in the previous quarter. Portugal's economy shrank by 0.7%, following growth of 0.5% in the final three months of last year.

The French and Italian economies were also dealt a blow, with zero growth in France and a 0.1% contraction in Italy in the first quarter. It followed 0.2% growth and 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Dutch statistics officials said the sharp fall in GDP was largely driven by lower household gas consumption due to the very mild winter.

Evidence that the eurozone's sluggish recovery was losing momentum prompted further speculation that the ECB would be forced to imminently announce stimulative measures to breathe some life back into the region's economy.

Vanden Houte said he expected a 0.1 percentage point cut in both eurozone interest rates and the rate of interest paid on bank deposits at the ECB's June policy meeting, amid a weaker growth outlook and the persistent threat of deflation in the region.

He said: "If anything, Thursday's dismal [GDP] figure should increase the pressure on the ECB to act next month. To keep growth on track and fight deflationary pressures, a renewed euro appreciation has to be avoided at all cost.

"We believe GDP growth is unlikely to be stronger in the second quarter than in the first quarter. This 'recovery' remains far too weak to halt deflationary pressures."

The main eurozone interest rate is currently 0.25%, with the deposit rate at zero, meaning any cut in the latter would take it into negative territory.

Annual eurozone inflation was 0.7% in April.