By T. Tsiros
The finance ministry is anxiously awaiting results from the statistical service for the second quarter of the year to ascertain whether the resurgent recession and commensurate loss of GDP in the first quarter will be overturned -- and to what degree -- between April and June 2016.
The pending numbers by the statistical service, EL.STAT, are imperative for meeting fiscal targets in 2016. Q1 closed with a decrease in GDP of 1.4 percent, yoy, whereas the announcement for Q2 figures is scheduled for Aug. 12.
A forecast for 2016 continues to cite a marginal 0.3-percent loss in GDP on an annualized basis.
The recessionary trend in the first quarter of 2016 was blamed on imploding private consumption, with total GDP over the period calculated at 39.787 billion euros, as opposed to 40.438 billion euros in the same quarter of 2015.
