AFP - Finland's recession persisted in the second quarter this year, when the economy contracted 2.6 percent after a shrinkage of 3.0 percent in the first, official data showed Tuesday.
   
Finland entered recession in the final three months of 2008, when momentum fell by 1.3 percent from the third quarter.
   
On a 12-month basis, the Nordic country's gross domestic product (GDP) fell in the April-June period this year by 9.4 percent, Statistics Finland said in a statement.
   
Statistics Finland also said it had revised down the first quarter's growth numbers from minus 2.7 percent to minus 3.0 percent.
   
The Finnish government forecast in June that growth would shrink 6.0 percent this year and unemployment would soar due to a sharp fall in output caused by dwindling demand.
   
Finland's traditionally robust, export-driven economy has struggled to overcome dramatic drops in demand from abroad and in consumer confidence at home.
   
"In the April to June period, the volume of exports shrank by 30.2 percent from twelve months back, but by only 0.7 percent compared with the previous quarter," Statistics Finland said in a statement.
   
Meanwhile, imports contracted by nearly 28.0 percent in the second quarter on an annual basis, and by 6.0 percent from the first quarter.