Europe Economy Grows Faster than Forecast

Growth in the largest Eurozone members (Germany, France and Italy) overcame the contraction in Greece. It remains to be seen if this trend can continue for the next quarter or if the countries contracting outweigh the gains of other members.

Gross domestic product in the 16 euro nations rose 0.2 percent from the fourth quarter, when it remained unchanged, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast growth of 0.1 percent, the median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg survey showed. Industrial production gained 1.3 percent in March from February, when it rose 0.7 percent, a separate report showed.

The euro-area economy may gather strength after European leaders earlier this week pledged a rescue package worth almost $1 trillion to counter a spreading Greek debt crisis and restore confidence. Concern about governments’ ability to tackle their deficits has pushed down the euro 11 percent against the dollar this year, helping bolster the region’s export-led recovery.

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.