(Bloomberg) -- Ireland’s economy partially rebounded in the first quarter, a gain that may have helped the euro zone as a whole exit a shallow recession. 

Gross domestic product rose 1.1% in the three months through March, after a drop of 3.4% in the prior period, the statistics agency in Dublin said on Monday. The increase was driven by the information and communication industries.

Separate data showed that the economies of Belgium and Latvia kept growing in the quarter.

Ireland’s role as a tax base for US multinationals leads to huge swings between growth or contraction that can sometimes influence the overall result for the region. Despite being one of the euro area’s smaller economies, its data have recently had an out-sized effect on expansion when the bloc itself has essentially stagnated. 

The numbers could potentially support the expectation of forecasters that the euro zone expanded 0.1% after two quarters of contraction in late 2023. Those data will be released on Tuesday along with statistics from the currency area’s biggest economies.

GDP in Belgium, itself an occasional bellwether for activity on continental Europe, rose 0.3% in the first quarter, keeping pace with the prior three months. Latvia’s economy grew 0.8%, accelerating from 0.4% in the previous period. 

All three countries are expected to outpace the euro area this year, according to the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts published earlier this month.

--With assistance from Barbara Sladkowska, Giovanni Salzano and Mark Evans.

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