Brussels, Jan 31 (AFP\/APP): The eurozone economy will avoid a recession this winter after recording weak-but-positive growth of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, official data showed Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The figure is lower than the 0.3 percent growth recorded in the third quarter of 2022, but better than forecasts of a contraction by economists.<\/p>\n
The data will be welcome after fears of a deep recession following Russia’s war in Ukraine, which unleashed sky-high energy prices and stoked inflation to record levels.<\/p>\n
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, and Italy would avoid recessions this year, as European growth proved “more resilient than expected” despite the war.<\/p>\n
Official data in Germany, however, showed that Europe’s biggest economy unexpectedly shrank in late 2022, contracting by 0.2 percent in the October to December period compared to the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
Italy’s economy also retreated in the final quarter of 2022, decreasing by 0.1 percent, official data showed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
But France dodged a contraction after recording a growth of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter as the eurozone’s second-biggest economy expanded by 2.6 percent in 2022.<\/p>\n
The European Union’s statistics agency said the single currency area’s economy grew by 3.5 percent in 2022 — higher than China’s at 3.0 percent and the United States at 2.1 percent.<\/p>\n
The figure for the eurozone is better than the European Commission’s forecast in November of 3.2 percent.<\/p>\n
The economy of the 27-nation EU as a whole, including the countries using the euro, grew by 3.6 percent in 2022.<\/p>\n
The EU had been downbeat about the eurozone economy late last year, but the bloc’s economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni was more optimistic this month.<\/p>\n
“There is a chance to avoid deep recession and to enter a more limited, shallow contraction,” Gentiloni said two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The IMF predicted the EU’s single currency area would grow in 2023 by 0.7 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels, Jan 31 (AFP\/APP): The eurozone economy will avoid a recession this winter after recording weak-but-positive growth of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, official data showed Tuesday. The figure is lower than the 0.3 percent growth recorded in the third quarter of […]<\/p>\n
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