Euro-Area Economy Contracted in Second Quarter on Spain: Economy
The euro-area economy contracted in the second quarter after the worsening debt crisis and tougher budget cuts forced at least six nations into recessions.
Gross domestic product in the 17-nation currency bloc fell 0.2 percent from the first quarter, when it stagnated, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That’s in line with the median forecast of 35 economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year earlier, euro-area GDP dropped 0.4 percent in the second quarter.
Europe’s slump is deepening as governments struggle to restore investor confidence in their ability to plug budget deficits as some of the region’s largest companies including Deutsche Bank AG eliminate jobs. In Germany, investor confidence unexpectedly dropped for a fourth month in August and the Bank of Japan’s minutes of the July 11-12 meeting released today cited the euro-area crisis among risks.
