Spanish Business News

Spain’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter as austerity measures to tackle the sovereign debt crisis undermined the recovery from a three-year slump.

Gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent, less than the 0.3 percent pace in the first three months of the year. The economy expanded 0.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said in Madrid today. The quarterly figure matched the estimate given by the Bank of Spain on Aug. 5, and the average forecast of four economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Home to almost a third of the euro region’s unemployed, Spain is relying on exports to offset declines in consumer and public spending. Economic growth in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, slowed to 0.1 percent in the second quarter, data showed today, and France’s economy stagnated in the three months through June.

Read the rest of the article at Bloomberg.com