Monday, May 10, 2010

Greece Slides Further Into Recession

The most recent release of the OECD economic indicators suggests that consumer confidence and industrial production in Greece has simply fallen off a cliff.

For March, Greek consumer confidence dropped to the lowest point seen since data has been tracked, a level far below the level seen even during the panic ridden period of late 2008.

For February (the data in this report do not all cover the same period), Greek industrial production plunged 4.44% dropping to a level not seen since 1997.

By these measures, Greece appears to be hurling headlong back down for a second dip into deep recession territory.

It will be important to track these series in coming months to see how effective the recent rescue package is at restoring healthier trends in the Greece economy.