Euro-Region Consumer Spending, Exports Help Ease Recession

European consumer spending rose for the first time in more than a year in the second quarter and exports fell at a slower pace, helping to ease the worst recession in more than 60 years. Household spending in the euro area increased 0.2 percent after declining 0.5 percent in the first quarter, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Exports fell 1.1 percent after an 8.8 percent drop in the previous three months. Gross domestic product fell 0.1 percent, the office said, confirming an initial estimate published on Aug. 13.

Today's GDP report was in line with economists estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The economy shrank 2.5 percent in the first quarter, the most since the euro-area data were first compiled in 1995.

From a year earlier, GDP dropped 4.7 percent in the second quarter after shrinking 4.9 percent in the first quarter. Euro- area GDP has declined for five straight quarters, the longest contraction since the data series started 14 years ago.

International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said in a paper published on Aug. 18 that the global economy is starting to gather strength from a crisis that left "deep scars." The Washington-based lender with 185 member nations sees the euro-area economy shrinking 0.3 percent in 2010 after a 4.8 percent contraction this year.