Survey: Eurozone activity picking up
Print Edition
THE economy across the 19-country eurozone appears to be gaining momentum as a closely watched survey yesterday showed business activity hit a near four-year high this month.
In its monthly survey, financial information company Markit said its purchasing managers’ index for the region rose to 54.1 points in March from 53.3 in February.
That was higher than the 53.6 anticipated in the markets and puts the index at its highest level since May 2011.
With anything above 50 indicating expansion, Markit said the survey points to quarterly growth of 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year.
Though that’s unchanged from the fourth-quarter rate and below comparable levels in the US, it provides further evidence that the eurozone recovery is gaining a firm footing.
Markit said the upturn was largely fueled by new orders, with manufacturers in particular getting a boost from the weaker euro, which makes exports more competitive in international markets.
It also said the improvement was broad-based across sectors with Germany, the currency bloc’s biggest economy, doing particularly well. France, though lagging Germany, is also seeing its best performance since 2011.
Chris Williamson, Markit’s chief economist, said the European Central Bank’s recently launched monetary stimulus has started “at a time when the eurozone’s economic upturn is already starting to gain traction.”
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