Greek economy defies forecasts and grows by 0.8%

Greece’s economy unexpectedly grew in the three months through June and a contraction in the previous quarter was revised away.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority in Athens said gross domestic product rose 0.8 per cent, as it revised up its estimate for the first quarter to show stagnation. The data comes as a surprise after economists in a Bloomberg survey of economists forecast a 0.5 per cent contraction.

Recent reports have painted a picture of an economy crippled by months of haggling over a new bailout and question marks over the nation’s future in the euro.

The turmoil forced the government to increase its use of emergency funds to keep banks afloat and impose controls to stem an outflow of capital. Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, will publish second- quarter data for the currency region on Friday, which is forecast to show 0.4 per cent growth.

That will follow national reports from France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Spain's economy grew 1 per cent, according to a provisional estimate published on July 30th.

Bloomberg