Portugal’s economy shrinks again

Lisbon: Portugal’s economy shrank for a second quarter in the three months through March, putting the country back into recession as the government tries to cut spending and raise taxes to narrow its budget deficit.

GDP fell 0.7% from the fourth quarter, when it fell 0.6%. GDP dropped 0.7% from a year earlier.

The contraction “reflects an accentuated negative contribution of internal demand, resulting from a reduction in consumer spending of households and public administration, and to a lesser degree, from a reduction in investment,” the National Statistics Institute said.