西班牙已经陷入了自2009年以来的第二次经济衰退。周一的政府报告显示，西班牙经济已经连续两个季度呈现萎缩。
目前，欧洲已有多个国家的经济持续两个季度的萎缩，这种状况基本上可以等同于衰退。
房地产市场泡沫爆破的余波还未退去，整个欧洲区的经济情势更是混乱不堪，这些让西班牙的经济深受重创。上周五，政府报告称西班牙的失业率已经高达24.4%，突破了史上的最高纪录。
2012年前3个月，西班牙的经济较上一季度萎缩了0.3%。如果按年来算的话，GDP则减少了0.4%。
最新的报道比之前的预测要好一些。上周，西班牙银行预计这个季度的GDP可能会下降0.4%。自周一的政府报告公布之后，一直被看作是投资者对经济信心指标的西班牙10年期国债的收益率发生了细微变化。
然而，标准普尔随即降低了对西班牙16家银行的信用评级。这一行为的诱因是S&P上周对西班牙主权债务实行了降级。
上周三，报道称英国经济出现了自2008年以来的二次衰退。紧跟着这条消息，便出现了西班牙经济衰退的这则报道。
西班牙被S&P降级
欧元区还有其他4个国家正在承受主权债务危机之苦——希腊、意大利、爱尔兰和葡萄牙——这几个国家早已声称国家GDP至少连续两个季度出现负增长；另外还有4个非欧元区国家也面临同样的情况——比利时、荷兰、塞浦路斯和斯洛文尼亚。
与此同时，欧元区还有两个成员国和英国一样，使用自己的货币——丹麦和捷克共和国——这两个国家同样面临着经济的衰退。
欧洲危机蔓延全球
接下来这一周各国都要对外公布本国的GDP报告，届时欧元区和整个欧盟很有可能正式宣布经济进入衰退，这些国家第4季度的GDP总值都下降了0.3%。
有些担心认为，欧洲经济一旦陷入衰退，可能会给美国和出口欧洲的新型市场国家的经济增长造成拖累，导致中国等国家经济可能要面临所谓的“硬着陆”。
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Spain has fallen into its second recession since 2009 as its economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, according to a government report Monday.
There are now a dozen European nations that have had their economies shrink for two consecutive quarters, a condition that generally equates to a recession.
The Spanish economy, struggling with the aftermath of the bursting of a housing bubble, has been particularly hard hit by the economic turmoil rolling across Europe. On Friday, the government reported that Spain's unemployment rate hit record high of 24.4%.
Spain's economy shrank by 0.3% from the previous quarter in the first three months of 2012. On an annual basis, GDP declined by 0.4%.
The latest report was a bit better than some forecasts. Last week, The Bank of Spain's estimated that GDP fell by 0.4% in the quarter.
The yield on Spain's 10-year bonds, a measure of investor confidence in the economy, was little changed following Monday's report.
However, Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of 16 Spanish banks. The move followed a downgrade of Spanish sovereign debt by S&P last week.
The news of a Spanish recession followed Wednesday's reading that showed the United Kingdom in recession for the second time since 2008.
Spain downgraded by S&P
Four other eurozone countries that are dealing with sovereign debt issues -- Greece, Italy, Ireland and Portugal -- have previously reported at least two quarters of negative GDP, as have four other eurozone members -- Belgium, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Slovenia.
In addition, two other European Union members that like the United Kingdom use their own currencies -- Denmark and the Czech Republic -- are also in recession.
European crisis far from over
It is likely that both the eurozone and the broader European Union will be declared in recession when they issue GDP reports in coming weeks, The combined GDP for both fell by 0.3% in the fourth quarter.
There are worries that a European recession could drag down economic growth in the United States as well as in emerging markets that export to Europe, causing a so-called hard landing in countries such as China.
