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COPENHAGEN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Denmark's Finance Ministry said on Monday the economy would slide back into recession next year on the back of the global economic crisis, but said it was in better shape than many others to weather the storm.
The finance ministry forecast gross domestic product contraction of 0.2 percent in 2009 against an earlier forecast of growth between zero and 0.5 percent.
Finance Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement that the Danish economy could not avoid being impacted by the global economic crisis and worsened outlooks from trading partners.
"Our economic growth is slowing too, but luckily, our starting point is good and significantly better than in many other countries," he said.
Denmark was the first European Union country to tip into recession this year after it reported a second consecutive quarter of negative growth for the first three months of 2008. Growth returned in the second quarter, but the economy contracted again in the third quarter, by 0.5 percent compared to the second.
The finance ministry now sees growth of 0.2 percent this year compared with an August estimate of 1.1 percent.
Growth is seen returning again in 2010, the finance ministry said with GDP expanding an estimated 0.7 percent.
In its new financial forecasts, the government saw unemployment rising to 2.4 percent next year and 3.4 percent in 2010. October unemployment was 1.7 percent, just higher than 30-year lows of 1.6 percent seen in September. (Reporting by Erik Matzen; editing by Stephen Nisbet)