HispanicBusiness

The pace of Spain's recession accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2012, when gross domestic product shrank by 0.8 per cent from the previous quarter, statistics body INE said Thursday.

The fall was the deepest since Spain's current recession - the second one in three years - began in 2011.

INE had previously estimated a contraction of 0.7 per cent in the last quarter. In the third quarter, GDP shrank by 0.3 per cent.

For the year, the Spanish economy contracted by 1.42 per cent. That is slightly less than the government estimate of 1.5 per cent.

INE attributed the deepening recession to a decline in domestic demand.

More than 800,000 full-time jobs were lost in 2012, INE said. Spain has an unemployment rate of 26.02 per cent.

The figures given by INE make it look impossible that Spain's economy will only contract by 0.5 per cent this year, as the government expects, the daily El Pais said.

The European Commission expects Spain's GDP to shrink by 1.4 per cent in 2013.