The Periphery Economies of the Eurozone Slowly Recovering

The periphery economies of the Eurozone, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, saw the largest falls in their respective GDPs during the economic crisis and all received bailouts. Although the four countries are performing better as of late, all have a long way to go in their economic recovery. Portugal narrowly avoided a second bailout in 2013 and is expected to return to economic growth in 2014. Ireland, through a series of austerity measures and reforms, has managed to reduce its debt to around 7 percent of its total GDP in 2013. Greece’s economy should return to growth by the end of 2014 after its sixth straight year of recession but looks like it may receive yet another bailout. Finally, Spain’s economy is expanding at the fastest rate since 2008, but unemployment still remains a problem.

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