Spain's economy shrinks 1.1% in second quarter
Thursday, August 27, 2009 @ 7:31 PM
MADRID — Spain's recession-hit economy shrank 1.1 percent in the second quarter, official data showed on Thursday, worse than the original estimate of 1.0 percent.
Compared with a year earlier, the economy contracted 4.2 percent, rather than 4.1 percent, according to final figures provided by the National Statistics Institute.
The second quarter marks the fourth consecutive contraction in the once booming economy. It shrank 1.9 percent in the first three months of the year, 1.0 percent in the last quarter of 2008 and 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
Spain's economy has proved especially vulnerable to the global credit crunch because growth relied heavily on credit-fueled domestic demand and a property boom boosted by easy access to loans.
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