BRUSSELS, Sept 12: Eurozone industrial production fell 0.3 per cent in July, official Eurostat figures showed on Friday, providing more evidence that the bloc is teetering on the edge of a recession.

The July figures marked a third successive decline while on a 12-month basis industrial output fell 1.7 per cent in the 15-nation eurozone.

Economists had expected the measure to slip 0.3 per cent on the month but just 0.6 per cent on the year, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The news came as eurozone finance ministers, meeting in southern France, ruled out a sweeping stimulus plan to ward off a recession but gave themselves some wiggle room on extra spending.

The ministers agreed that Europe would not follow in the footsteps of the United States and Japan with an ambitious stimulus package.

The EC warned on Wednesday that Europe was teetering on the brink of a technical recession, which economists define as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

After the 15-nation eurozone economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, the European Union’s executive arm estimated that it would be at a standstill in the third quarter.

The commission cut its eurozone growth estimate for the whole of 2008 to 1.3pc from a forecast of 1.7pc given in April, marking an even sharper slowdown from the solid 2.6 per cent growth recorded last year.—AFP