On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released data showing the gross domestic product declined at a 1.4 percent annualized rate over the first quarter of 2022.

Economists did predict a GDP growth rate of roughly 1 percent for the first quarter.

“The contraction comes after the economy grew by 5.5 percent in 2021, and by 6.9 percent in the final quarter of 2021 alone,” reports National Review.

In March the Federal Reserve announced interest rates will begin to be raised over the course of the coming year. On Tuesday Deutsche Bank released a report titled “why the coming recession will be worse than expected.”

In the report, Deutsche Bank predicts the U.S. will likely enter a recession. “We will get a major recession.” Authors of the report say the Fed will have to raise interest rates aggressively in order to bring down inflation to the agency’s goal of 2 percent.

The Consumer Price Index rose 8.5 percent in March 2022 compared with the same month last year, the highest increase since the 12-month period ending December 1981.

It is “highly likely that the Fed will have to step on the brakes even more firmly, and a deep recession will be needed to bring inflation to heel,” the report states.

Authors did note that their outlook is more pessimistic than others such as Goldman Sachs, whose forecast was a 35-percent chance of a recession within the next two years.