As the government took an axe to spending, economic output slumped by 0.4 percent in the second quarter on a quarterly basis after a 0.3-percent drop in the first quarter, the National Statistic Office said.
On an annual basis, gross domestic product tumbled by 1.3 percent, much faster than the 0.6-percent decline registered in the first three months of 2012, the figures showed.
The latest figures confirmed previous estimates for Spain's weak performance in the second quarter.
But they also revealed that the Spanish recession dates back to 2011, not the start of 2012.
The fragile economy's output in the third quarter of last year-previously recorded as being just above zero-had in fact slipped barely into negative territory, the statistician said.