THE TELEGRAPH: The Greek economy shrank by 1.5pc in the second quarter and the unemployment rate jumped to 12pc, pointing to a deepening recession as the country battles a debt crisis.
A fall in investment and a "significant" reduction in public consumption had dampened overall output, the national statistics office said.
The disappointing official GDP figures pushed up the cost of protecting Greek government debt against default on Thursday. It now costs €795,000 a year to insure an exposure of €10m of Greek government bonds, according to CDS monitor Markit.
Greece is in a deep economic crisis after being forced to adopt harsh austerity measures to rebalance its public finances following a €110bn (£90bn) rescue from the EU and IMF. >>> | Thursday, August 12, 2010
