Italy economy shrinks 0.3pc

ROME (AFP) - Italys economy shrank 0.3pc in the fourth quarter of 2009, a slightly bigger contraction than first reported, national statistics agency ISTAT said.
Italys GDP shrank by 0.3pc compared to the previous quarter in data adjusted for seasonal and calendar variations, said ISTAT in a statement. In February, ISTAT estimated that GDP had shrunk 0.2pc compared to the third quarter in a preliminary estimate.
According to the new figures, GDP for the full 2009 year contracted by 5.1 percent and not by 4.9 percent as previously estimated, in its weakest showing since the agency began collecting data in 1971.
ISTAT said the GDP decline was due to a 1.0 percent decline in investments and a 0.1 percent decline in consumption compared to the third quarter.
Imports instead grew by 3.2 percent and exports by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, said ISTAT.
Italys GDP expanded 0.6 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the second quarter after five consecutive quarters of decline.
But in mid-January the Bank of Italy warned that the recovery would be fragile in 2010 and 2011.
In January, the Italian government revised upward its economic growth forecast for 2010 to 1.1 percent, while analysts placed that figure closer to 0.7 percent.