EU economic recovery to continue while jobless rate at record highs
Print Edition
Europe’s economic recovery will continue into the second half of this year, though at a subdued pace, while unemployment will remain near record highs through next year, the European Commission said yesterday.
The European Union’s economy is expected to grow 0.5 percent over the second half of the year, leaving it flat for the whole year, and expand 1.4 percent in 2014, according to the commission’s fall forecast. Its last predictions, issued in May, had expected an economic decline of 0.1 percent in 2013.
The commission, the EU’s executive arm, also expects the 17-country eurozone to continue its recovery from a protracted recession, from which it emerged in the second quarter. However, over 2013 as a whole, the eurozone is still expected to record a decline of 0.4 percent. For next year, the commission expects 1.1 percent growth, slightly down from its previous forecast of 1.2 percent.
“There are increasing signs that the European economy has reached a turning point,” said the EU’s Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn.
Rising business confidence and strengthening domestic demand are expected to underpin the recovery as governments also slow the pace of austerity measures such as spending cuts and tax increases.
“The fiscal consolidation and structural reforms undertaken in Europe have created the basis for recovery,” Rehn added.
The eurozone’s output, however, remains about 3 percent below the level recorded in 2008, when the global financial crisis was entering its most acute phase and Europe’s debt crisis hadn’t yet started, according to the report.
The eurozone’s projected growth will also fail to create many jobs, leaving the unemployment rate at its record high of 12.2 percent this and next year, dropping to 11.8 percent only in 2015, according to the forecast.
Rehn acknowledged: “It is too early to declare victory; unemployment remains at unacceptably high levels.”
The jobless rate for the wider, 28-country EU, which includes members like Britain and Poland who don’t use the euro, is likely to dip from 11.1 percent in 2013 to 11 percent next year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
