EU to be out of recession by year end

The European Union will be out of recession by the end of this year, and will see economic growth in 2010, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch said on Tuesday.  “A relatively strong temporary pick-up is in the cards for the near term,” the Commission said. Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rise by 0.7 percent in 2010, and the EU economy will grow by 1.5 percent in 2011, it said.

“The EU economy is coming out of recession,” Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said in a statement. “This owes much to the ambitious measures taken by governments, central banks and the EU that have not only prevented a systemic meltdown but have kick-started the recovery.”