Slump in eurozone deepened in 2012 Q4
Source: Agencies |
February 15, 2013, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE recession across the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro deepened in the last three months of 2012 as Germany faltered in the face of anemic demand across the debt-ridden region.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said yesterday the eurozone economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period. The decline was bigger than the 0.4 percent drop expected in markets and represented the biggest fall since the first quarter of 2009 when the global economy was in its deepest recession since World War II.
The eurozone has now shrunk for three straight quarters - a recession is officially defined as two quarters of negative growth. It's not alone in struggling to post growth - figures earlier showed Japan in recession too and the US economy has shown signs of faltering, with its economy flat in the final quarter of 2012, according to Eurostat.
The worry for European policymakers is that it's not just the supposedly weaker debt-laden economies such as Greece and Spain that are posting declines in output. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter as demand for its exports fell. France, Europe's second-biggest economy, also saw output drop by 0.3 percent.
In total, the Eurostat figures show that seven euro countries are in recession - Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland.
There are hopes the fourth quarter of 2012 will mark the low point for the eurozone. In the first few weeks of 2013, there have been some indications that the eurozone may be over the worst.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said yesterday the eurozone economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period. The decline was bigger than the 0.4 percent drop expected in markets and represented the biggest fall since the first quarter of 2009 when the global economy was in its deepest recession since World War II.
The eurozone has now shrunk for three straight quarters - a recession is officially defined as two quarters of negative growth. It's not alone in struggling to post growth - figures earlier showed Japan in recession too and the US economy has shown signs of faltering, with its economy flat in the final quarter of 2012, according to Eurostat.
The worry for European policymakers is that it's not just the supposedly weaker debt-laden economies such as Greece and Spain that are posting declines in output. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter as demand for its exports fell. France, Europe's second-biggest economy, also saw output drop by 0.3 percent.
In total, the Eurostat figures show that seven euro countries are in recession - Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland.
There are hopes the fourth quarter of 2012 will mark the low point for the eurozone. In the first few weeks of 2013, there have been some indications that the eurozone may be over the worst.
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