Economics
Italy Suffers Recession Alone in Economic, Political Isolation
- Plunge in industrial sales, orders may extend the slump
- Germany raced toward recession at end of 2018 but veered away
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Italy’s recession at the end of 2018 was almost unprecedented among the euro area’s major members and provided further evidence of the self-inflicted damage to the economy.
While mighty Germany only barely avoided the same fate, its weakness was largely due to one-time effects in the car industry. Italy’s two straight quarterly contractions highlight deeper issues; they also mean it’s the region’s only major economy to slip into recession alone. That amounts to a dubious distinction, as shown in the chart below.