New recession fears ahead of G20

Official EU figures released later are expected to show that the eurozone is in recession, as world leaders head to Washington for a key economic summit.
Analysts predict the 15-nation area's economy will shrink in the third quarter of this year, following a 0.2% reduction during the second quarter.



On Thursday, government data showed Germany slipped into recession.

But France has escaped that fate, with the economy growing 0.1% in the third quarter, official data showed.

Ahead of the figures, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde unveiled the news in an interview on French radio.

She told RTL radio that the French economy had expanded by 0.14% in the third quarter, thereby escaping the technical definition of a recession, which is two quarters of negative growth.

It would a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success

President Bush


Q&A: G20 summit

France's economy shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter.

"The figure is astonishing because everyone was expecting a negative figure and preparing for a recession," she said, pointing out that stable consumption and company investment helped to support the economy.