Eurozone Recession Is Now Longest in Currency Bloc

(PARIS) — The eurozone is now in its longest ever recession — a stubborn slump that has surpassed even the calamity that hit the region in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The European Union statistics office said Wednesday that nine of the 17 EU countries that use the euro are in recession, with France a notable addition to the list. Overall, the eurozone’s economy contracted for the sixth straight quarter, shrinking by 0.2 percent in the January-March period from the previous three months. Though the contraction is an improvement on the previous quarter’s 0.6 percent decline, it’s another unwelcome report for the single-currency bloc as it grapples with a debt crisis that has prompted governments to slash spending and raise taxes. “The eurozone is facing a double blow from necessary restructuring of its domestic economy and somewhat disappointing growth in world trade, in particular demand from emerging markets,” said Marie Diron, senior economic adviser to Ernst & Young. This recession is not nearly as deep as the one in 2008-9, which ran for five quarters, but it is now the longest in the 14-year history of the euro. A recession is typically defined as two straight quarters of negative growth. (MORE: EU Predicts Eurozone Recession to Continue in 2013) Austerity measures have inflicted severe economic pain and produced social unrest across the eurozone, where the average unemployment rate is a record 12.1 percent and higher in some places. In Spain, it’s 26.7 percent and in Greece 27.2 percent. Wednesday’s report also brought bad news for the wider 27-country EU, which includes non-euro members such as Britain and Poland. The EU too is now in recession after shrinking by a quarterly rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter, following a 0.5 percent drop in the previous period. With a population of more than half a billion people, the EU is the world’s largest export market. If it remains stuck in reverse, companies in the U.S. and Asia will be hit. Last month, U.S.-based Ford Motor Co. lost $462 million in

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