Battered Greek economy expands mildly

ATHENS, Greece - Greece’s battered economy expanded by a quarterly rate of 0.2 percent in the April-June period, despite a small decline in consumer spending and exports.

The figure released by the country’s statistical authority Monday was slightly lower than its initial estimate, earlier this month, of 0.3 percent growth.

Greece’s economy has shrunk by about 25 percent since the debt crisis broke out in 2009. The country is being kept afloat by international bailouts, issued on condition of successive spending cuts and reforms.

The left-led government will enter a new round of talks with its creditors next month on the course of its budget austerity program.