Euro zone GDP revised down

The euro zone economy shrank more than previously thought in the second quarter of this year.

In revised calculations, the EU’s statistical office Eurostat said contributions from household demand and trade were smaller than initially estimated. Gross domestic product in the region contracted by 0.2 percent between April and June compared with the previous three months. Eurostat had earlier reported a fall of 0.1 percent. And GDP was down 4.8 percent in annual terms, that was worse that the earlier estimate of 4.7 percent. The data still showed government fiscal stimulus efforts were working as government expenditure added 0.2 percent to euro zone growth. The figures are likely to make the European Central Bank more wary about premature withdrawal of its monetary stimulus. ECB policymakers meet this week to decide what to do on interest rates and economists believe they will keep them at a record low one percent until the third quarter of next year.

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