Spain says 2012 recession deeper than first announced

Spain's job-wrecking recession was deeper than first announced in 2012, revised figures showed today.
The Spanish economy shrank 1.6 per cent in 2012 last year rather than the 1.4-per cent contraction first posted, the National Statistics Institute said.
Spain's economy, the eurozone's fourth largest, also hit the brakes harder than first thought in 2011 when it grew by a meagre 0.1 per cent, not the 0.4-per cent growth earlier reported, the updated figures showed.
The revised figures change little for the Spanish economic outlook but they serve as a reminder of the depth of a two-year downturn that sent unemployment soaring to towering new highs.

Spain is still struggling to overcome the aftermath of a decade-long property bubble that imploded in 2008, destroying millions of jobs and sending debt levels soaring.
Official data show the unemployment rate hit 26.26 per cent in the second quarter of this year, slightly below the record 27.16 per cent posted in the first quarter.
Spain's government and the central bank say the economy could emerge from recession with modest growth in the third quarter of this year.
Definitive figures for second quarter economic growth are scheduled for release on Thursday.