EU economy shrank by 0.3% in Q4 of 2011 - by Nick Mann

Gross domestic product for both the eurozone and the European Union as a whole fell by 0.3% over the last three months of 2011, Eurostat said yesterday..

The European Union’s statistical agency’s latest figures mean that for 2011 as a whole, the GDP of the 17 countries using the single currency grew by 1.5%, while the 27 EU member states experienced 1.6% growth.

A total of four countries recorded their second consecutive quarter of negative growth and as such technically fell into recession in the final quarter of 2011. These include Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands and Portugal, with the latter recording the largest quarterly decline at 1.3%.

Both the UK and Europe’s largest economy, Germany, also saw their GDP fall in the fourth quarter – by 0.2% – but France’s economy grew by 0.2% compared with Q3.
In comparison, the US, recorded 0.7% growth in the final quarter of 2011, and Japan’s economy shrank by 0.6%.

For more: EU economy shrank by 0.3% in Q4 of 2011 | Public Finance — official CIPFA magazine