First PMI rise in 18 months points to easing of eurozone recession
Print Edition
The eurozone recession seems to be fading out at last, with key growth indicators giving a surprisingly strong showing, economic experts said yesterday.
A key leading indicator of activity, the Markit Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index for July switched to give a growth reading for the first time in 18 months.
The index logged 50.5 points, up from an initial estimate of 50.4 and above the 50-point watershed which signals the difference between a trend of shrinking activity or growth.
The reading for the services sector was 49.8 points, up from an initial estimate of 49.6, after manufacturing surprised with a strong 50.3-point reading.
The survey among thousands of purchasing managers is widely seen as a reliable gauge of economic expansion.
In Germany, rates of increase in manufacturing output and service sector activity hit 17- and five-month highs respectively, London-based Markit said.
The combined score for Germany in July was 52.1 points, comfortably back in the black.
The other main national economies of France, Italy and Spain each registered a further easing of contraction, with solid growth among manufacturers.
“The final Output Index reading of 50.5 confirms a welcome return to growth for the eurozone economy at the start of the third quarter, raising hopes that the region can finally claw its way out of its longest-running recession,” said Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at Markit.
“Granted, the euro area has experienced false dawns before — but the improvements in confidence and other forward-looking indicators warrant at least some optimism for the outlook this time around.”
The data comes on the back of a first, miniscule drop in overall numbers of unemployed people for more than two years — by 24,000 to 19.26 million in June.
The eurozone has been seen as the main drag on the world economy over the past couple of years as austerity policies adopted to tame the debt crisis have crippled growth.
The news was not all good yesterday with the European Union’s Eurostat data agency flagging a fall for eurozone retail sales in June of 0.5 percent compared to May.
Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, saw retail sales fall 1.5 percent. Eurostat gave no explanation of the figures which tend to be volatile and heavily influenced by seasonal factors.
However, the anticipated impact of growing business confidence on consumer spending was still enough for analysts to tip a stable recovery.
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