By the skin of its teeth, the Eurozone has avoided recession reporting marginal combined growth of 0.1% for Q1 2012, report cebr.
The figures released by Eurostat show unchanged output in Q1 2012 compared with Q4 2011 for the common currency area, while all the European Union’s 27 members combined managed to achieve marginal growth of 0.1% over the same period.
France mirrored the Eurozone’s flat output, but Italy, Spain and Portugal all saw declines in output that are linked to stringent austerity measures. Some Eastern Europe countries recorded strong growth, but the best performer was Finland with quarterly growth of 1.3%. That contrasts with Hungary’s -1.3% and -1.0% for the Czech Republic.
The main impetus for the surprisingly strong performance was the region’s largest economy Germany. Strong exports and solid domestic consumption pushed national income up by 0.5% over the quarter.
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