Eurozone GDP falls in 3rd Quarter, enters first recession. | CountingPips Forex Blog

November 14, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Eurozone GDP falls in 3rd Quarter, enters first recession.

The Eurozone saw a contraction of its economy in the third quarter of this year signaling the economy is in recession according to a preliminary estimate by Eurostat released today. The 15-nation eurozone gross domestic product declined by 0.2 percent in the July to September Eurozone enters recession quarter following GDP contraction of 0.2 percent in the second quarter. The contraction in GDP marks first time since the beginning of the euro currency in 1999 that the eurozone has had two quarterly contractions in a row. An economy is generally considered to be in recession when GDP data contracts for two consecutive quarters.

On an annual basis, the eurozone economy grew by 0.7 percent over last year's thrid quarter following the 1st quarter's annual growth of 1.4 percent. Economic forecasts were on target with their predictions of a quarterly GDP fall of 0.2 percent and an annual growth rate of .7 percent.

Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, saw a GDP decline of 0.5 percent in the third quarter as reported yesterday following a GDP decline of 0.4 percent in the second quarter. Italy's economy entered recession as GDP declined by 0.5 percent in the third quarter after declining by 0.4 percent in the second quarter. France saw their economy grow in the third quarter as GDP increased by 0.1 percent after a revised declined of 0.4 percent in the second quarter.

The annual rate of GDP growth in France, the eurozone's 2nd largest economy, showed an increase of 0.6 percent over last year and follows a 1.2 percent growth in the second quarter. Other notable GDP numbers include Greece's 0.5 percent increase, Cyprus' 0.6 percent increase and Spain's 0.2 percent decline.

Today's preliminary estimate is followed up by two more revised GDP releases that are scheduled for release on December 4, 2008 and January 8, 2009.

tags: eurozone, economy, gdp, recession, forex

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