Franch and German economies out of recession
New data shows the recession has eased in Europe, where the two largest economies, Germany and France, returned to growth after a period of decline.
Some analysts say the new figures may show the worst of the recession has passed.
For the 16 nations that use the euro, the sum of all the goods and services produced shrank by 0.1 percent in April, May and June. Those gross domestic product figures are a significant improvement over the previous quarter, and better than most economists had predicted.
The GDP of both France and Germany grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2009, ending a year-long recession in both countries.
However, for all sixteen countries in the eurozone, the sum of all the goods and services produced dropped by 0.1% in the quarter to June. The figures are an improvement over the previous quarter, and better than numbers predicted by most economists.
“The recession has ended, and it has ended sooner than we all thought. We expect to see growth of 1% in the third quarter, which is very strong for Germany,” said UniCredit’s Andreas Rees. “[...] I wouldn’t rule out the chance of even better growth.”
Stock markets rose, with the British FTSE 100 index rising 1.3%. The main French and German indices also posted gains of over one percent by noon.
- “France and Germany exit recession“. BBC News Online, August 13, 2009
- “Recession Eases in Europe; Germany, France Resume Growth“. Voice of America, August 13, 2009
Source: wikinews.org | Creative Commons Attribution 2.5: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
| More from NewsWax
Stumble It!
