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2009-11-13 06:41:41
The eurozone economy has emerged from recession after growing between July and
September, figures have shown.
The 16 nations that use the euro collectively grew 0.4%, after shrinking by
0.2% between April and June.
The French and German economies both grew for a second consecutive quarter,
confirming the eurozone's two largest economies are out of recession.
However, both France and Germany grew by less than expected, a sign of how
tentative signs of recovery remain.
The European Union as a whole - 27 nations including the UK and Sweden - also
emerged from recession, growing 0.2% in the third quarter.
Germany's economy grew by 0.7% in the quarter, while France grew by 0.3%. Both
economies and Japan ended year-long contractions in the second quarter of the
year, while the US has since joined them after its economy grew in the
third-quarter.
However, the UK remains in recession, having contracted by 0.4% between July
and September.
The UK, Europe's second-largest economy, has now contracted for six consecutive
quarters, the first time this has happened since quarterly figures were first
recorded in 1955.
Faster recovery
ANALYSIS
Nigel Cassidy, business reporter, Brussels Every recovery is different and the
slow crawl out of recession in the eurozone countries is no exception. This
time it's continental European exporters who are responsible for most of the
new growth - and that in spite of an uncomfortably strong euro, without which
firms would have undoubtedly sold even more goods to faster-growing markets
overseas. In the main, consumers have not changed their behaviour - retail
sales have risen slightly but unemployment is still rising, and will do for
many months to come. Economists are quick to point out that a great deal of the
growth is thanks to economic stimulus packages which are bolstering European
economies. Germany alone is currently lending 85bn euros of its taxpayers'
money. Nobody can even guess what will happen to growth when national
governments stop pumping credit into the system - as the European Commission is
urging them to do within two years.
Economists had expected Germany to grow by 0.8% in the third quarter, and
France to grow by double what it actually did in the third quarter - predicting
growth of 0.6%.
Germany's Desatis statistics office also revised upwards its estimate for
growth in the second quarter, to 0.4% from 0.3%.
Though the data on Friday was weaker than expected, few analysts had even
predicted at the start of the year Germany and France would start to recover so
soon.
"The German economy has emerged from the deep recession earlier and faster than
many had thought," ING economist Carsten Brzeski said.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told Europe 1 radio that while the
country's economy will have contracted during 2009 overall, it would enter next
year "with elan".
France and Germany may have been less hard hit than the UK by the global
economic slowdown because their financial sectors, which were at the heart of
the crisis, account for a smaller proportion of their economies.
Stronger exports and consumer spending, as well as government stimulus
packages, have contributed to the growth in the eurozone's largest economies.
The data released on Friday showed that Italy, Austria and Slovakia had also
emerged from recession in the third quarter.
However, Spain's troubled economy contracted further in the quarter.