Switzerland Now in Recession

Although their economy has contracted less than 2 percent since late last year, Switzerland is now officially in a recession.

. . . official figures showed that the country's economy shrank by 0.8% in the first three months of 2009.

The decline came after a contraction of 0.3% in the last quarter of 2008.

Switzerland's economic woes have been led by its major banks which, like lenders around the world, have reported significant losses linked to bad debts.

A country is generally considered to be in recession following two successive quarters of economic decline.