The combined economy of the euro zone shrank in the second quarter, with a 0.1% contraction compared to the first three months of 2009, largely due to lower investment, official EU statistics show today.
The contraction confirmed an earlier Eurostat estimate released on August 13 and marked the fifth consecutive quarter of falling economic output for the area.
But the pace of decline is nearing standstill when compared to a record 2.5% decline when the recession first bit.
Despite record unemployment running to more than 15 million people, coming on top of 0.3% growth recorded by both France and Germany, the area's largest economy, the latest figures underline rising optimism that Europe's worst post-war recession is coming to an end.
Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2008, gross domestic product for the euro zone retreated by 4.7% compared to 4.9% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009. The contraction is slightly larger than the initial estimate of 4.6%.
For the 27-nation European Union as a whole, GDP fell by 0.2% over the second quarter, a slight improvement on the 0.3% estimate first given. The annual rate of decline was 4.8%.
Investment was down 1.3% in the euro zone and 1.7% across the 27-nation bloc, the agency added. Again, that marked a vast improvement on the picture for the first quarter, which saw 5.3% and 5.7% drops respectively.
Exports also fell by 1.1% in the euro zone and 1.5% across the EU, but imports fell faster at a uniform rate of 2.8%.
Domestic consumption, however, rose 0.2% in the eurozone after a slide of 0.5% in the first quarter. In the EU as a whole, consumption was stable after a 0.9% fall in the first three months of the year.
Euro zone industrial prices fall 0.8% in July
Euro zone industrial production prices fell by 0.8% in July from the level in June, reversing an increase of 0.4% recorded in the June data, seperate official EU statistics show today.
Compared to data for July 2008, prices were 8.5% lower in the euro zone.
Across the 27-nation European Union as a whole, the monthly drop was 1% with the annual decline 8.4%.
Key energy sector prices for July dropped by 3.1% and 3.5% in the two zones compared to June - with the annual fall pegged at 20.2% and 20.1% respectively.
The largest 12-month fall where national data is available was in the Netherlands, at 14.8%, with the only increase being the 0.5%recorded in Malta.
