The Spanish economy shrank by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of contraction in the crisis-battered country, dpa quoted the National Statistics Institute (INE) in Madrid as announcing Thursday. The statistics office said the quarter-on-quarter decline was affected by falling state spending, which was down by 1.2 per cent compared to the previous quarter, and 4.3 per cent year-on-year. The final quarter of 2012 saw the economy retract by 0.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), the office said. Spending by private households was also down by 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter, but this represents less of a fall than in fourth quarter 2012, which saw a 0.9-per-cent drop.
