The Spanish economy slipped back into recession in the first quarter of 2012, making the government's job of meeting the deficit targets even tougher amid the public anger against the deepening austerity and record-high unemployment.
Gross domestic product contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter, the statistical office INE said Monday. This followed a 0.3 percent fall in the fourth quarter of 2011, which was the first decline in activity since the final three months of 2009.
The country is now in a technical recession, which is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
However, the latest result was better than the 0.4 percent decline estimated by the Bank of Spain last week. Economists had expected a 0.5 percent drop.
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