LONDON, England (PNN) - April 30, 2012 - Eurozone countries were struggling to stay solvent as stubbornly high inflation rates and the Spanish double-dip further intensified the debt crisis.

Markets across the continent plunged, as it emerged that inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro held at the high 2.6% for the month of April.

The Spanish government announced that the country was back in its second recession in three years after shrinking by 0.3% in the first quarter, following a similar decline in the previous three-month period.

Rising prices have been a consistent headache for the European Central Bank, the chief monetary authority for the 17-country eurozone, and will only serve to place further pressure on the already struggling economies of Spain and Italy.

The contraction in Spain's economy is dimming hopes that the government will be able to cut its budget deficit as predicted and raises the specter that the country might be locked into a downward financial spiral and a billion pound bailout like Greece and Ireland.