DHAKA: Growth figures on Wednesday confirmed that the euro zone finally escaped a damaging 18-month recession in the second quarter, but the bloc still lags well behind in global terms.

The economy of the 17-nation euro zone, home to about 340 million people, grew 0.3 percent in the three months to June, the Eurostat statistics agency said in a second estimate.

That compared with a contraction of 0.2 percent in the first quarter, originally given as a negative 0.3 percent, reports The Straits Times.

In the full 27-member European Union, the economy expanded 0.4 percent in the second quarter, better than the initial 0.3 percent reading and after shrinking 0.1 percent in the first.
Compared with output in the second quarter last year, the euro zone shrank 0.5 percent while the EU was flat.

During the same period, the United States economy grew 0.6 percent compared with the first quarter and by 1.6 percent compared with a year earlier.

BDST: 1538 HRS, SEPT 04, 2013
RoR/GCP