The euro zone fell back into recession for the first time in three years as the deepening sovereign debt crisis in peripheral nations dragged down the core northern economies of the 17-member bloc in the third quarter of 2012.

Euro area GDP fell 0.1 per cent in June to September, compared with a fall of 0.3 per cent in the previous three months, as the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands contracted sharply, the EU’s statistics office reported. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012