Despite predictions it was headed for a rebound, the nationÂ’s economy has again dipped into a recession according to figures released by Statistics Denmark today.

The gross domestic product – the total value of the nationÂ’s goods and services – fell a seasonally-corrected 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011. The decline follows a 0.4 percent slide in the last quarter of 2010, and officially puts Denmark into a recession for the second time since early 2009.

After positive growth figures of about 0.4 percent in the US and 0.75 percent in the EU as a whole, domestic economists had expected first quarter growth of about 0.5 percent.

“Today’s numbers paint a surprisingly grim picture of the economy,” Steen Bocian, chief economist for Danske Bank, said.

Contributing to the slide was a 1.9 percent decline in consumer and public spending.

Investments also slid 8.3 percent in the first quarter, but on a positive note, the figures revealed a second straight quarter of increasing investment in housing and software.

Adding to the disappointment of todayÂ’s release was a fall in employment of 0.1 percent.

Although some 3,000 new jobs were created in the private sector, the gain was outstripped by the loss of about 4,500 public sector jobs during the quarter.

However, according to figures published earlier this month, the number of unemployed has fallen by 7,700 or 0.2 percent, since January and now stands at 5.8 percent of the workforce.

On another positive note, exports grew 4.3 percent. Imports increased 2.1 percent.