BRUSSELS: Belgium's economy contracted in the fourth quarter, preliminary data from the central bank showed on Wednesday, leaving the country close to a technical recession.
Belgium's fourth-quarter GDP fell 0.1 percent against the previous quarter, and by 0.4 percent year-on-year, the central bank said in a preliminary estimate released on Wednesday.
For 2012 as a whole, the preliminary estimates showed that output fell 0.2 percent.
While Belgium hasn't had two consecutive quarters of shrinkage -- the technical definition of recession -- it's had two negative quarters separated by 0 percent growth in the third quarter.
It's only had one quarter of growth in the last six quarters.
The numbers bode badly for the euro zone overall, as Belgium is the first of the core countries to report output figures for the end of the year, with the major countries scheduled to report in the middle of next month.
Spain, which sits on Europe's periphery and had an unemployment rate of almost a quarter at the end of last year, reported a worse-than-expected 1.8 percent fall in fourth quarter output earlier on Wednesday.
The Belgian number is slightly better than the 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter fall forecast on average by six economists polled by Reuters.
indiatimes.com
Belgium's fourth-quarter GDP fell 0.1 percent against the previous quarter, and by 0.4 percent year-on-year, the central bank said in a preliminary estimate released on Wednesday.
For 2012 as a whole, the preliminary estimates showed that output fell 0.2 percent.
While Belgium hasn't had two consecutive quarters of shrinkage -- the technical definition of recession -- it's had two negative quarters separated by 0 percent growth in the third quarter.
It's only had one quarter of growth in the last six quarters.
The numbers bode badly for the euro zone overall, as Belgium is the first of the core countries to report output figures for the end of the year, with the major countries scheduled to report in the middle of next month.
Spain, which sits on Europe's periphery and had an unemployment rate of almost a quarter at the end of last year, reported a worse-than-expected 1.8 percent fall in fourth quarter output earlier on Wednesday.
The Belgian number is slightly better than the 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter fall forecast on average by six economists polled by Reuters.
indiatimes.com
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