European Commission Predicts Flatline Growth for EU in 2013

In line to EU comments yesterday about Spanish growth the commission has now released lower forecasts for the eurozone. The EU is only expected to grow by 0.1 percent in 2013, which is an improvement of the 0.4 percent contraction forecasted earlier this year.

Real positive growth will only be on the table until 2014, with figures expected around 1.4 percent if all the reforms and agreements are reached. As it happened with Spain there will be some disappointments after local governments were proclaiming higher expected figures.

Here is a list of the major economies and their expected growth in 2013:

Germany 0.8% in 2013 (German forecast is 1.0%)
France 0.4% in 2013 (French forecast is 0.8%)
Italy -0.5% in 2013 (Italy forecast is -0.2%)
Spain -1.4% in 2013 (Spain forecast -0.5%)
Greece -4.2% in 2013 (Greece forecast -4.5%)

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza