ECONOMY

Europe sees Grecovery is on its way

The Greek economy shrank by a smaller rate than the European Commission had anticipated in the first quarter of the year, a Brussels spokesman admitted on Wednesday, while Germany’s finance minister argued that the Greek recovery is on the right path.

In response to a question from Kathimerini’s correspondent in Brussels, Nikos Chrysoloras, Commission spokesman Simon O’Connor said that the 5.3 percent contraction of Greece’s gross domestic product in the period from January to March 2013 beat the forecasts of the European Union’s executive body.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a Christian Democrat Party conference in Berlin yesterday that it will take time for the eurozone to revert to growth. However, he added that the progress noted in Spain’s competitiveness and the increase in tourism in Greece illustrate that the economies of Southern Europe are on the right track.

Bearing in mind that jobless rates in the South are continuing to rise to record highs, Schaeuble added that progress on the unemployment front is always the last of all indications to be seen during an economy’s recovery.

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