HELSINKI (AFP) - Finland's economy slipped back into recession in January-March as gross domestic product (GDP) contracted for the second quarter in a row, statistics showed Wednesday.

• Swedish economy grows faster than expected

In the first quarter of 2010 the volume of Finland's GDP fell 0.4 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2009, Statistics Finland said in a statement.

This meant that the economy had shrunk by 0.8 percent on a 12-month comparison.

"Two quarterly falls in a row was really a surprise," Handelsbanken Finland's chief economist Tiina Helenius told AFP, calling the figures "weak" and "disappointing".

She said that "consumers remain cautious, which is visible in particular in the very weak demand for services," adding that for many Finnish exports, including industrial machines, demand generally picks up later in the cycle.

Statistics Finland also revised down the GDP figure for the fourth quarter of 2009, saying the economy had slipped 0.2 percent from the previous quarter versus an earlier estimate of flat growth.

It also adjusted the year-on-year fall for the fourth quarter to 5.2 percent from a previously given 5.1 percent.

"According to the revised time series, the volume of seasonally adjusted GDP peaked in the second quarter of 2008, thereafter it fell very rapidly especially in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009," Statistics Finland said.

"Since then output has remained on level with the first quarter of 2009," it added.

In the third quarter of 2009, the economy grew 0.5 percent, the statistics office said.

The Nordic country's economy has been hit harder by the global economic downturn than those of most other European Union countries, and going forward, export-reliant Finland's performance will depend very much on recovery in key export countries like Sweden, Russia and Germany.

Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called Finland's economic oultook "unusually uncertain" given the depth of the recession and structural challenges like its rapidly ageing population.

The eurozone country's economy, which slumped nearly eight percent in 2009, is nonetheless expected to begin recovering this year, with the finance ministry forecasting 1.1-percent growth.

Unemployment was meanwhile expected to remain high, around nine percent.

Finland posted a trade surplus for the first time for six months in April as demand for forestry products and metals boosted the value of exports, statistics published on Wednesday showed.

Finland had a trade surplus of 355 million euros (424.4 million dollars) in April, returning to the black after five consecutive months of trade deficit, Finnish Customs said in a statement.

The value of exports rose some seven percent year-on-year to 4.4 billion euros, their highest level since November 2008 if the sale of a luxury cruiser which boosted exports in October 2009 is not taken into account, it said.

"April exports grew in particular thanks to forest industry products and metals," the customs service said, adding that exports in the electrotechnical industry had continued to slide.

The customs service revised its March trade deficit figure to 345 million euros from 285 million euros given in May and said the cumulative trade deficit for January-April stood at 230 million euros.

Finland's export-reliant economy has been hit hard by the global economic downturn, and while moderate recovery is expected this year, figures released Wednesday showed the Nordic country had slipped back into recession, posting its second fall running in quarterly gross domestic product (GDP).