Italy - Slumped into a recession expected to last at least a year with the economy contracting 0.7 percent over the past three months

Published on Mar 12, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Italy has slumped into a recession expected to last at least a year with the economy contracting 0.7 percent over the past three months.

It is the second consecutive quarterly fall in GDP which technically makes it a recession.

The latest figures are an indication of the problems facing prime minister Mario Monti's technocrat government as it battles with a shrinking economy compounded by austerity measures and a debt crisis.