Eurozone falls into ANOTHER double-dip recession as even Germany totters and anti-austerity protests sweep the continent
Daily Mail -
The eurozone has fallen into a double dip recession, as the debt crisis even managed to slow Germany’s powerhouse economy to a virtual standstill.
The 17-country bloc – which generates a fifth of global output – shrank by 0.1 per cent between July and September and by 0.2 per cent in the previous three months. Two falls in a row means a double dip recession.
And this time, Germany and France, the eurozone’s biggest economies, could not save the region from a double-dip even though both their economies grew by 0.2 per cent.
The news comes a day after violence erupted in cities across Europe as protesters took to the streets in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and France to demonstrate against tough government austerity measures.
The Europe-wide cuts have proved divisive with EU policymakers saying they are crucial to ending the debt crisis but others blame them for the economic nosedive.
Italy and Spain are in the worst state, having been contracting for a year already, while Greece is suffering an outright depression.
The good news is that while the European Commission predicts a 0.4 per cent contraction for the eurozone in the whole of 2012, it believes it will grow 0.1 per cent in 2013.
Experts hope that that growth, while small, will increase year on year.
Riot police were forced to protect the Portuguese parliament from angry protesters yesterday, while rubber bullets were fired on the streets of Madrid, and there were running battles with police in Milan and Rome, and clashes in Paris and Lille.
Meanwhile, Germany’s predicament is prompting particular concern among economists, as the eurozone crisis takes an increasingly severe toll on its normally robust economy.
Read More: dailymail.co.uk
2012-11-16 03:00:44
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