Recession

According to Eurostat figures published on 13th February in the fourthquarter of 2008 the GDP of the euro area and that of the EU declinedby 1.5% in comparison with the previous quarter. During the thirdquarter 2008 the growth rate lay at -0.2% in both areas. In comparisonwith the same quarter the previous year the euro area GDP recorded adecrease of 1.2% and that of the EU declined by 1.1% over the fourthquarter of 2008 against +0.6% and +0.8% in the previous quarter.