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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Eurozone: Zero growth confirmed for economy | Eurozone: Zero growth confirmed for economy |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The eurozone economy achieved zero growth in the first three months of 2012, official figures have confirmed. | The eurozone economy achieved zero growth in the first three months of 2012, official figures have confirmed. |
| The second estimate of gross domestic product also said there had been no growth in the wider 27-nation EU in the period. | The second estimate of gross domestic product also said there had been no growth in the wider 27-nation EU in the period. |
| The eurozone economy contracted in the last three months of 2011, so the zero growth means it has just managed to avoid recession. | The eurozone economy contracted in the last three months of 2011, so the zero growth means it has just managed to avoid recession. |
| The European Central Bank will make its latest interest rate decision later. | The European Central Bank will make its latest interest rate decision later. |
| No change to rates are expected, but there may be hints of a rate cut to come later in the year. | |
| It was exports that kept the currency bloc out of recession, contributing half a percentage point to the final figure, making up for investment, which knocked off 0.3 points and inventories, which took 0.2 points off the final figure. | |
| While Eurostat kept the level of growth compared with the previous quarter unchanged, the figure compared with the first quarter of 2011 was revised down from zero to -0.1%. | |
| Data on individual countries showed that Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Cyprus were in recession. | |
| Germany's economy recorded growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of the year, while Italy's contracted by 0.8% and Spain and Cyprus both contracted by 0.3%. | |
| Growing problems | |
| The continuing problems in Spain were highlighted by manufacturing figures for April. | |
| Industrial output fell 8.3% in April compared with the same month the previous year. | |
| The seasonally adjusted figures from the National Statistics Institute showed the eighth consecutive month of declines. | |
| They suggested growing problems, with industrial output having dropped 7.5% in March and 5.3% in February. |