Eurozone economic confidence at its highest since 2011 as unemployment edges down
Consumers and businesses in the Eurozone are feeling more confident on the economy, according to figures released this morning.
The European Commission's economic sentiment indicator climbed 0.7 points to a score 0f 106.8 in December – the highest since 2011. Its average since 1990 is 100.
Consumer confidence is being helped by a falling unemployment rate, which dropped to its lowest level since for over four years. The jobless rate edged down to 10.5 per cent in November, Eurostat said today, down from 10.6 per cent in October and 11.5 per cent in the same month of 2014.
The number of jobless in the Eurozone has fallen by 2.1m over the last 12 months.
Retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in November, according to separate figures from Eurostat. It was mostly due to a fuel in monthly money spent on fuel as prices dropped.
Business survey figures released yesterday showed that growth was likely to have reached its fastest rate for four and a half years in the final three months of 2015.
Economist Clemente De Lucia from BNP Paribas said:
The ongoing improvement in the survey data suggests a positive underlying growth momentum and growth is likely to accelerate over the course of 2016, where the Eurozone as a whole can count on easier financial and monetary conditions and several countries benefiting from somewhat expansionary or less tight fiscal policy.
