Euro Area Slips Into Recession Second Time in Four Years
Source: Bloomberg
The euro-area economy slipped into a recession for the second time in four years as governments imposed tougher budget cuts and leaders struggled to contain the debt crisis that broke out in October 2009.
Gross domestic product in the 17-nation single-currency bloc slipped 0.1 percent in the third quarter after a 0.2 percent decline in the previous three months, the European Unions statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Thats in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 44 economists. From the year-earlier period, GDP dropped 0.6 percent.
Europes economic malaise is deepening as governments across the region impose budget cuts to narrow their fiscal deficits. Spain and Cyprus have joined the list of countries seeking external aid, while Greece, Portugal and Ireland are already in bailout programs. Unions across the region have held protests against austerity measures.
Overall I think its remarkable that we havent seen so far in the last year a stronger decrease in economic activity considering the strength of the euro-zone debt crisis, said Alexander Krueger, chief economist at Bankhaus Lampe in Dusseldorf. Stopping the downward trend is the story for the first half of next year.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-15/euro-area-slides-into-recession-for-second-time-in-four-years.html
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)Can probably be traced to fairly strong exports. Without those exports more workers would have been laid off, decreasing domestic demand for goods and services. High energy prices during the period covered could also be masking as economic activity.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)I can't wait to see what Paul Krugman has to say about this.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)they were praising Ireland, Iceland, and Latvia as shining examples of how laissez-faire economics could bring prosperity and happiness to all. The truth is that laissez-faire economics creates bubbles and deep crashes. Spain crashed due to a housing bubble.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)Force the working class who didn't benefit at ALL from the run up to the capitalist crisis to pay for their criminal actions. And it's coming to us. Soon. When the "Catfood Commission" is touted as the "compromise", there's only one way out. In the streets resisting.