EU-DIGEST: Eurozone turning a corner as recession set to end -by Pan Pylas

8/13/13

Eurozone turning a corner as recession set to end -by Pan Pylas

The recession that’s gripped the eurozone since late 2011 is likely over.

On Wednesday official figures are expected to show that economic growth among the 17 countries that use the euro inched up 0.2 percent in the April-June quarter compared with the previous quarter.

The increase is slight. But it would end six straight quarters of a debilitating recession — the longest to afflict the single-currency bloc since its creation in 1999.

And it would represent an encouraging sign for other economies, including the United States, the world’s largest, because the eurozone is the world’s biggest trading bloc. The eurozone’s recession held back growth in the United States, Japan and elsewhere as European consumers and businesses spent less on goods from those nations.

‘‘Concerns about the eurozone were causing a lot of companies to put investment on hold,’’ said David Owen, chief European economist at Jefferies International.

The eurozone’s recession was a byproduct of the US debt crisis that engulfed the currency union in 2010. The crisis forced debt-laden governments to impose painful cuts, spooked investors and raised doubts about the viability of the eurozone. Shrunken government spending and higher taxes devastated living standards in much of the eurozone, slowed economies and drove the bloc’s unemployment rate to a record 12.1 percent.