Financial Times
February 14, 2012
Greece’s recession worsened at the end of last year, new figures showed on Tuesday, adding to the pressure on a government caught between riots at home and pressure from eurozone leaders to force through deep spending cuts in exchange for a fresh €130bn bail-out.
The economy contracted by 7 per cent in three months to December compared with the same period in the previous year, a steeper decline than the 5 per cent recorded in the third quarter, according to preliminary data published by Elstat, the national statistics body. Greece’s economy has now shrunk in every quarter but one since mid-2008.
The figures came ahead of a cabinet meeting at which Lucas Papademos, the technocrat prime minister, is expected to seek agreement on further details of austerity measures designed to persuade eurozone finance ministers to sign off on a fresh bail-out when they meet on Wednesday.
The so-called euro working group, comprising finance ministry officials from all 17 eurozone member states, is also due to discuss the crisis on Tuesday, as Greece struggles to seal a €200bn restructuring of privately held debt before a €14.5bn redemption due on March 20.
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