Malta’s economy continued to be hit by the global recession in the second quarter, according to GDP statistics issued by the EU yesterday.

The economy shrank by 0.9 per cent of GDP between April and June, albeit at a slower pace than that registered during the first three months of the year (-1.2 per cent of GDP).

The island has been in negative growth for the past 12 months, since June 2008, reflecting a similar economic mood across the European continent.

However, although the majority of member states registered negative growth during the second quarter of the year, the new Eurostat figures provide some hope that the current economic recession is close to an end.

Europe’s two largest economies, Germany and France, registered a small growth for the first time since they plunged into recession after the beginning of the financial crisis. Both countries have now registered a growth of 0.3 per cent of GDP. Other member states which registered slight growth after months in recession were Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.

A Eurostat official told The Times yesterday that although these statistics showed positive signs it was too early to conclude that the worse was over.

“We have to await more statistics to know for sure that we are heading towards better times. However, these are budding positive signs,” he said.

Eurostat said the GDP in the eurozone fell by -0.2 per cent during the second quarter this year, compared with the previous quarter.

During the first quarter of 2009, the economy of the 16-member euro area contracted by 2.5 per cent.

Among the EU’s 27 member states, Slovakia recorded the highest growth rate (2.2 per cent) compared with the previous quarter, followed by Slovenia (0.7 per cent) and Poland (0.5 per cent).