Euro-area consumer confidence declined to the lowest since June 2009, adding to signs that the single-currency bloc’s economy is sliding into a recession.

An index of household sentiment in the 17-nation euro area dropped to minus 24.6 from minus 21.5 in July, the European Commission in Brussels said in an initial estimate today. Economists had forecast a drop to minus 22, the median of 27 estimates in a Bloomberg survey showed.

Europe’s economy is edging toward its second recession in three years after budget cuts from Spain to Ireland prompted companies to eliminate jobs and eroded consumer spending. Euro- area services and manufacturing industries contracted for a seventh straight month in August, London-based Markit Economics said today in an initial estimate.

The commission is scheduled to publish the wider indicator of euro-area economic confidence on Aug. 30.