In Part I of Europe Entering New Dark Age
The IMF forecast a two-year recession, with Spain’s “economy contracting 3.0 percent in 2009 and 0.6 percent in 2010,” with the unemployment rate rising to 19.3 percent by 2010.
The newly revised figures, however, show that the EU economies will shrink by 4% [Too optimistic!] in 2009, the European Commission has forecast.
It also forecast unemployment in the 27-nation EU* would reach 10.9% in 2010. The jobless figure in the eurozone** would climb even higher to 11.5% .
“The European economy is in the midst of its deepest and most widespread recession in the post-war era,” said EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia.
- German economy will shrink by 5.4% this year
- Th economies of UK and Italy are expected to contract by about 4.5%
- Irish economy will drop by 9%
- Latvia’s will shrink by 13.1%
Notes * and **
The EU-27 block consists of
1. The 16 eurozone countries, which use euro as their common currency: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain and
2. The following 11 countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the UK
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