Many other economies have recently been faced with a much greater recession than Iceland, Visir.is reports. In Lithuania for example, the recession amounted to 20,4% in the second quarter of 2009 and to 18,2% in Latvia.
The Icelandic Krona. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
This is stated in a report by Íslandsbanki Bank. According to the report, Estonia suffered a recession of 16,6%, Slovenia 9% and Romania of 8,8%. In the EU countries, the recession has been an average of 4,8%, in the United States 3,9% and 6,5% in Japan.
Recession in gross domestic product was 5,5% according to statistics issued today by the Statistical Bureau. This is a dramatic downturn and greater than Iceland has seen in years. Decline in GDP amounted to 4,5% in the first quarter of the year and to 6,5% in the second quarter.
These statistics indicate that this year’s recession in the Icelandic economy will be much slighter than predicted. The Ministry of Finance had predicted a recession of 9,6% and The Central Bank expected a recession of 9,9%.
