Spanish Economy Stalls as Borrowing Costs Surge to Record

Spain’s economy stalled in the third quarter, undermining the country’s efforts to shield itself from the sovereign debt crisis after Spanish and Italian borrowing costs surged to records.

Gross domestic product was unchanged from the previous quarter, when it expanded 0.2 percent, the National Statistics Institute said today in an e-mailed statement in Madrid. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 0.8 percent. The Bank of Spain estimated on Oct. 31 that the economy stalled in the third quarter and grew 0.7 percent on the year.