ATM withdrawals see biggest fall in 10 years
Drop is larger than in 2009 recession
The amount of cash withdrawn from automatic teller machines in the fourth quarter of last year declined 4.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, the biggest fall over the past decade, according to figures released Monday by the Bank of Spain.
Spain has slipped into its second recession in four years, with the downturn deepening in the last three months of last year.
ATM withdrawals are a barometer of economic activity. From the start of 2000 when the economy was motoring along, cash taken out grew at a rate close to 5.5 percent. It fell 2.88 percent in 2009 when Spain was locked in the worst downturn in living memory and recovered over the following two years as the country pulled out of recession again.
