Eurozone set for strong finish in 2017

Source: Xinhua | 2017-11-24

THE 19-country eurozone is set for its best quarterly performance since early 2011, according to a closely watched survey yesterday, the latest sign that a robust economy has gained further momentum heading into the year’s end.

Financial information company IHS Markit said its purchasing managers’ index — a broad gauge of business activity across the manufacturing and services sectors — rose to 57.5 points in November from 56 the previous month. Anything above 50 indicates an expansion and the index now stands at its highest level since April 2011.

Chris Williamson, the firm’s chief business economist, said “business is booming,” and jobs are being created at the fastest rate since the dot.com era at the turn of the millennium.

The eurozone’s fourth-quarter growth could even come in at 0.8 percent, he said, rounding off “the best year for a decade.”

Even before the survey, the eurozone was set to post its highest growth rate in 10 years. Earlier this month, the European Union upgraded its growth forecast for the eurozone this year to 2.2 percent, which would be the highest since 2007.

The scale of the eurozone recovery this year, which is broad-based across countries and sectors, has caught many economists by surprise.

At the year’s start, many feared that the region, already disturbed by Britain’s vote last year to leave the EU, ongoing concerns over the euro and a slew of key elections, would face a difficult time. Though uncertainty over Brexit remains, the Greek crisis seems contained and populist politicians failed to make the breakthrough many economists feared during those polls.