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| Eurozone crisis live: Spanish crisis deepens as recession confirmed | Eurozone crisis live: Spanish crisis deepens as recession confirmed |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 8.43am: Even before Spain's double-dip recession was confirmed (at 8am BST today), prime minister Mariano Rajoy was insisting that his government would not relax the pace of its austerity drive. | |
| As tens of thousands of Spanish people took to the streets, Rajoy told a gathering of his conservative People's Party that there was no alternative to his plans. He said: | |
| We are implementing a series of reforms that are more positive, necessary and required than ever.....Spain needs deep structural change, not makeup. | |
| Spain is aiming to cut its deficit to 5.3% of GDP this year -- a tougher target than the 5.8% which Rajoy initially felt was achievable, but less onorous than the 4.4% target which Brussels originally set. | |
| 8.30am: As regular reader meljomur points out in the comments below, Britain also slipped back into a double-dip recession last week. | |
| By my reckoning, there are now eight eurozone countries in recession. | |
| The other six are Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece and Slovenia -- whose economies all shrank in the third and fourth quarters of 2011. | |
| Looking outside the eurozone, but within the EU, we can include the UK, Denmark and the Czech Republic. | |
| Spain and the UK are among the first countries to report data for the first three months of 2012. | |
| 8.20am: The news of Spain's recession (see 8.05am) has long been expected. This graph shows how it only managed weak economic growth through 2010 and most of 2011, before beginning to contract last autumn. | |
| The red bar charts show quarterly GDP changes, while the blue line tracks the year-on-year change. | |
| 8.05am: It's official - Spain has suffered a double-dip recession. | |
| The Instituto Nacional de Estadistica has announced that the Spanish economy shrank by 0.3% in the first three months of 2012. That follows a 0.3% contraction in the final three months of 2011. | The Instituto Nacional de Estadistica has announced that the Spanish economy shrank by 0.3% in the first three months of 2012. That follows a 0.3% contraction in the final three months of 2011. |
| That puts Spain back into recession for the first time since it returned to growth at the start of 2010. The 0.3% contraction is actually slightly better than analysts had forecast. | That puts Spain back into recession for the first time since it returned to growth at the start of 2010. The 0.3% contraction is actually slightly better than analysts had forecast. |
| On an annual basis, Spain shrank by 0.4% in the last quarter. | On an annual basis, Spain shrank by 0.4% in the last quarter. |
| The full details are here on the INE website (pdf, in Spanish). | The full details are here on the INE website (pdf, in Spanish). |
| 7.58am: With impeccable timing, Standard & Poor's just announced that it has taken 'negative actions' on 16 Spanish banks, following last Friday's two-notch rating downgrade. | 7.58am: With impeccable timing, Standard & Poor's just announced that it has taken 'negative actions' on 16 Spanish banks, following last Friday's two-notch rating downgrade. |
| Details here. | Details here. |
| 7.50am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone debt crisis. | 7.50am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone debt crisis. |
| We're focusing on Spain this morning. The latest Spanish GDP data will be released in the next few minutes, and it is certain to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession. | We're focusing on Spain this morning. The latest Spanish GDP data will be released in the next few minutes, and it is certain to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession. |
| The data (due at 9am CEST, or 8am BST) will heighten the pressure on the Madrid government, following last Friday's credit rating downgrade. Yesterday, unions organised marches in cities across Spain in protest at the government's economic plans. | The data (due at 9am CEST, or 8am BST) will heighten the pressure on the Madrid government, following last Friday's credit rating downgrade. Yesterday, unions organised marches in cities across Spain in protest at the government's economic plans. |
| Elsewhere today: political tension is rising in France and Greece ahead of this weekend's elections. François Hollande launched a message of defiance against Angela Merkel over the eurozone fiscal pact yesterday, leaving France's likely next president on a collision course with Germany's chancellor. | Elsewhere today: political tension is rising in France and Greece ahead of this weekend's elections. François Hollande launched a message of defiance against Angela Merkel over the eurozone fiscal pact yesterday, leaving France's likely next president on a collision course with Germany's chancellor. |