Cargo trains stand on the railway tracks at a transshipment station in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, as in background will be seen town’s skyline, on January 23, 2024.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images
The euro zone economic system stabilized within the fourth quarter of 2023, flash figures revealed by the European Union’s statistics company confirmed on Tuesday.
The bloc narrowly averted the shallow recession that was forecast in a Reuters ballot of economists, following a 0.1% fall in GDP within the third quarter.
The euro zone’s seasonally-adjusted GDP was flat in contrast with the earlier quarter and expanded by 0.1% versus the earlier 12 months. In a preliminary estimate, the euro space was seen posting 0.5% progress over the entire of 2023.
Its greatest economic system, Germany, posted a 0.3% contraction within the remaining quarter of the 12 months, in keeping with figures additionally out on Tuesday. The nation narrowly skirted a technical recession resulting from an upwards revision to its studying for the third quarter, when the economic system stagnated.
The French economic system was regular within the fourth quarter, whereas Spain outperformed forecasts to develop by 0.6%.
The European Commission’s euro zone sentiment indicator in the meantime confirmed a decline in client confidence — although the outlook for companies in providers and industrials was barely brighter.
The euro zone economic system is in a “phase of prolonged weakness” that’s being pushed by Germany, whereas southern European economies paved the way in progress, Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, stated in a word.
“Germany is struggling with weak global demand for goods and heavy industry is suffering from higher energy prices,” he added.
The euro zone’s divergence from the U.S. is rising, he added, partly defined by a bigger decline in inflation-adjusted wages, power costs hitting industrials, and decrease ranges of fiscal help.
The euro continued to log slim losses towards the U.S. greenback following the recent Tuesday knowledge, additionally posting tight beneficial properties towards the British pound. The U.S. economic system smashed expectations for the tip of the 12 months, increasing by 3.3% within the fourth quarter. U.Okay. figures are due out in the midst of February.
The European Central Bank has hauled rates of interest to a report excessive during the last 12 months and a half, creating tighter monetary circumstances throughout the area which have helped cool inflation from a peak of 10.6% in October 2022 to 2.9% in December. The newest euro zone inflation flash figures are due Thursday.
Source web site: www.cnbc.com
