Spain's recession drags on; few signs of growth

SPAIN'S recession stretched into its fifth quarter in the July-to-September period, final gross domestic product data showed yesterday, as the economy showed few signs of returning to sustainable growth.

Spanish GDP shrank 0.3 percent in the third quarter from a quarter earlier, much less than the 1.1 percent decline from April to June. It contracted 4 percent year-on-year.

Spain's decade-long boom was fuelled by unrestrained property speculation and heady consumer spending on the back of cheap credit, but after lending dried up mid-2008, the twin pillars of growth crumbled.