Europe still in recession, Q2 estimates show
By DPA, IANSThursday, August 13, 2009
BRUSSELS - Europe’s economy remained stuck in recession, with second quarter figures out Thursday showing gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 0.3 percent in the European Union and by 0.1 percent in the eurozone on the quarter.
The flash estimates by the European statistical office Eurostat dashed hopes of an earlier-than-expected recovery after two of the EU’s biggest economies - Germany and France - posted positive GDP figures.
Their performances were offset by those of Italy and Britain, where GDP fell on the previous quarter by 0.5 and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Thursday’s Eurostat figures nevertheless surpassed original expectations that the European economy would shrink by 0.5 percent between April and June.
Compared with the same quarter of 2008, GDP fell by 4.8 percent in the 27-member EU and by 4.6 percent in the 16-member eurozone.
Looking at the quarter-on-quarter figures, Europe’s worst performers were the Baltic trio of Lithuania (-12.3 percent), Estonia (-3.7 percent) and Latvia (-1.6 percent), along with Hungary (-2.1 percent), Romania (-1.2 percent) and the Netherlands (-0.9 percent).
The best performer was Slovakia (2.2 percent), followed by Germany, France, Greece and Portugal (0.3 percent each).
European GDP has been falling steadily since the first half of 2008, plummeting the economy into its worst downturn in decades.
