The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is "horrified" that post-apartheid South Africa is officially in its first recession, it said on Tuesday.

"And the fall is even bigger than the so-called 'experts' predicted," Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.

The trade union federation was reacting to gross domestic product figures for the first quarter of 2009 which were released on Tuesday morning.

It showed the economy had shrunk by 6,4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

In the last quarter of 2008, the economy shrank by 1,8%.

The two consecutive quarterly contractions put South Africa in its first recession in 17 years.

"This is a massive national crisis which requires an immediate response from government, labour and business to defend our jobs and livelihoods," said Craven.

He called for an "immediate cut in the repo rate of at least 200 base points to stimulate investment and demand and emergency measures to protect the most vulnerable industries".

Craven said the new government would need to shift to "more expansionary economic policies".

This included "a radically expanded public works programme to provide work for the growing number of unemployed".