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| IS THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY SHOWING SIGNS OF RECOVERY? 14/08/2009 |
| (2009-08-14) |
| Last updated: 2009-08-17 12:40 EET |
Germany and France have given the first signs that Europe's developed states are recovering from the economic recession. The two countries have reported an economic growth rate of 0.3% of the GDP, thus contradicting analysts' pessimistic forecasts.
According to the Federal Statistics Office, the growth of the German economy has been supported by a growth in public and private consumption and construction and trade activities. In France, the main factors that contributed to the recovery from recession were the increase in consumption, public investment and exports. The surprising announcement of a slight economic recovery in Germany and France is fuelling hopes about a gradual recovery from the economic slump in the Euro zone, although, in general, this area is still in recession.
According to analysts, the Euro zone might put the recession behind it in the third quarter, as a result of an increase in demand on the world market and government measures to boost the economy which sparked off an economic performance above expectations. Those figures are also included in a Eurostat report of the European Commission which recommends the urgent implementation of the remaining economic recovery measures laid down in the European plan. Eurostat says that in the second quarter of 2009, the GDP dropped by 4.8% in the 27 EU member states as compared to the same period in 2008.
Apart from Germany and France, Portugal, Greece and Slovakia have also reported rising economic growth rates. Romania's National Statistics Institute says that in the same period, Romania's GDP dropped by 8.8%, following a 7.6% drop in the first quarter. Romanian Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea said the economy would further shrink in the coming months, but at a slower pace in the last part of the year. Pogea announced that in the September to November period, all public sector employees would have ten days of unpaid leave or would have to work 6 hours instead of 8. This measure will cut expenses by 0.3% of the GDP accounting for about 350 million Euros.
President Traian Basescu said he did not believe sending state employees into ten days of unpaid leave was the right solution, but he proposed instead conducting employees' evaluations to decide who stays and who goes. The president also said that until now, the Romanian state had shown that it was not capable to adjust to the crisis. Trade unions do not agree to the solution of unpaid leave for public sector employees and have called on the government to start talks to find alternative solutions, or face large-scale protests.
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2025-04-03
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