India, July 30 -- Italy's economy shrank for the first time in two years in the second quarter, preliminary estimate from the statistical office ISTAT showed Wednesday.

Gross domestic product dropped unexpectedly by 0.1 percent sequentially, in contrast to the 0.3 percent expansion in the first quarter. This was the first fall since the second quarter 2023 and confounded expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent.

From the demand side, there was a positive contribution by the domestic component and a negative contribution by the net export component.

On a yearly basis, economic growth softened to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent in the first quarter. GDP was forecast to grow 0.6 percent.

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