MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Euro zone “technically” emerges from recession in third quarter

The encouraging performance of France and Germany was crucial

The 16-strong group of nations in the Euro-zone has “technically” emerged from recession, official figures show. European countries using the single currency grew their collective economy 0.4% in the third quarter.

While it is the first time the bloc as a whole has shown growth, France and Germany have enjoyed their second period of positive output. They joined the US and Japan, which have also shrugged off the economic gloom.

The European Union as a whole - which includes the UK and Sweden - is also out of recession in the July to September period, with a 0.2% growth in output. Recent figures for the UK, however, showed the economy shrunk 0.4% in the third quarter.

The rise in Euro-zone output was the first increase in six quarters and brings to an end Europe's sharpest recession since the Second World War.

But the preliminary figures from EU statistics body Eurostat were below the 0.6% quarter-on-quarter growth that economists had predicted. This was put down to smaller-than-expected growth in the group's major economies, such as Germany and France.

According to data from Germany's Federal Statistical Office the country saw its recovery accelerate in the third quarter, with a quarter-on-quarter economic expansion of 0.7%. This compared with a gross domestic product (GDP) increase of 0.4% in the previous three months - itself an upwards revision.

Technically a country is in recession following two consecutive negative growth quarters; the same two-quarters-running principle applies to be considered out of recession.