- Howard Archer, IHS
Thanks to an advance in investment spending, which offset weaker household consumption, the Euro zone economy expanded 0.3% in the final quarter of 2015 from three months to September. For the whole 2015, the Euro bloc's economy grew at the strongest pace in in four years, despite slowing toward the end of the year. The economy was 1.6% bigger last year than in 2014, according to Eurostat. The Euro zone economy slowed slightly in the second half of last year, as exports increased less slowly than imports amid a weaker demand from China and other developing economies. Consumer spending had been the main driver of growth in the previous nine months, but was outperformed by investment in the final quarter, which grew by 1.3% from the previous three-month period, a much stronger performance than the 0.4% increase recorded in the three months to September.
ECB policy makers meet Thursday, when they are predicted to agree fresh stimulus measures in a bid to push the annual rate of inflation toward their target of just under 2%. Consumer prices dropped 0.2% on the year in February, the first such decline since September 2015. Moreover, there are indications that the Euro zone economy has slowed further in the early months of 2016, with surveys of purchasing managers indicating a more sluggish increase in activity, while measures of confidence among consumers and businesses have declined.
© Dukascopy Bank SA