Eurozone, Hong Kong fall into recession

The economy of the 15 nations sharing the euro has slumped into recession for the first time ever, EU data released on Friday revealed, 2008: Year of global financial crisis

with GDP falling 0.2 percent in the second and third quarters.

The 27-nation EU as a whole avoided the same fate only by recording zero, rather than negative, growth in the second quarter

On a 12-month comparison, the eurozone economy grew 0.7 percent in the third quarter, down sharply from 1.7 percent in the previous quarter, the official Eurostat agency said.

Hong Kong falls into recession

Hong Kong slipped into recession in the third quarter as the global economic slowdown took its toll on the financial hub, government figures showed Friday.

Hong Kong's gross domestic product fell 0.5 percent from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, following a fall of 1.4 percent in the second quarter, the Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.

The standard definition for recession is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

Italy follows Germany into recession

Italy's economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, certifying that the euro zone's third largest economy, like its larger peer Germany, has been in recession since the spring.

The 0.5 percent fall in gross domestic product -- a bigger drop than expected and the steepest decline since the end of 1998 -- followed a 0.4 percent drop between April and June (revised from an originally reported -0.3 percent).

Italy thus met the technical definition of recession -- two consecutive quarters of negative growth -- for the first tine since the start of 2005. Official statistics agency ISTAT reported GDP was down 0.9 percent year-on-year, following a 0.2 percent drop in the previous three months (revised from -0.1 percent).

Source: EconomicTimes