Analysis: Recession to roll on in Greece, complicate fiscal efforts

ATHENS - Greece's economy will stay stuck in a recession next year, underlining the challenges the country faces in creating enough growth to claw its way out of a debt crisis shaking the euro, Greek budget figures showed on Monday.

GDP is expected to contract by 2.5 percent next year from a 5.5-percent slump in 2011, according to the country's 2012 budget draft, which was submitted to parliament after agreement with international inspectors.

Those numbers are in line with recent forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, but much worse than predictions used in July to calculate a second 109-billion-euro ($145 billion) rescue package that anticipated 0.6 percent growth in 2012, putting an end to three consecutive years of recession.