Greek slump in Q1 not as bad as expected, says gov’t spokesman
Greece's economic slump was not as bad as expected, government spokedman Stelios Petsas said on Thursday, following the release of the GDP data by the country's statistics service (ELSTAT).
“Greece had a significantly lower recession than expected, as the GDP for the first quarter decreased by 0.9 percent,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Thursday.
“The Greek economy entered dynamically the first two months of the year, while March was not as bad for the economy as it had been predicted,” he added.
The seasonally adjusted data showed the economy shrank at an annual 0.9 percent percent clip in the first quarter after a 1.0 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The data also showed gross domestic product shrank 1.6 percent in the first quarter, at a faster pace compared to a 0.7 percent contraction in October-to-December.
