Greece’s economy contracts again

Greece’s economy contracted for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months of the year, data from the country’s statistics office showed Wednesday.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (Elstat) said in a statement that seasonally adjusted figures show Greece’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, versus a rate of -0.4% between October to December last year.

On an annual basis, Greece’s economy expanded by 0.3% in the first quarter, Elstat added.

Political uncertainty has been weighing on Greece’s economy which managed to exit a six year recession early in 2014 that wiped out about a quarter of the size of economic output. A decision by the government to hold snap elections in January hit economic sentiment in the country while months of talks with lenders over Greece’s bailout have raised doubts about its future in the eurozone.

For the full year, the European Commission recently revised lower it outlook for Greek GDP, saying that it is now expected to grow by 0.5% versus the previous forecast for growth of 2.5%.