Spain slides back into recession

Spain, eurozone's fourth-largest economy, has entered into a double-dip recession, joining seven other eurozone nations, economic data released on Monday by the National Statistics Institute revealed.

The nation's economy registered a 0.3-per cent contraction consecutively for the last two quarters, which indicates a technical recession. Compared to the first quarter last year, the economy shrank 0.4 per cent.

Earlier, the Spanish economy contracted for two successive quarters in 2009 recording the first recession following the property bubble.
 
Seven other eurozone economies already plunged into depression include Italy, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium and Slovenia.

Thousands marched the streets on May Day to protest against the Spanish government's austerity measures and high unemployment, marking the beginning of a series of demonstrations planned in the coming days demanding sweeping political and economic changes.

The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for the March quarter over the previous quarter was marginally higher than the forecast drop of 0.4 per cent. Nevertheless, it indicated the gloomy picture of the nation's economy, saddled with government's austerity measures and a fragile banking system.

The Spanish government has been resorting to huge spending cuts to tame the prohibitive budget deficit which reached 8.5 per cent in 2011, and target to bring it down to 5.3 per cent this year, still above the eurozone's 3-per cent limit.