-Carsten Brzeski, Chief Economist from ING
Germany, the Euro zone's number one economy, logged a higher than expected trade surplus in February. Germany's foreign trade generated a non-seasonally adjusted surplus of 19.2 billion euros in the reported month, up from 15.9 billion euros posted a month earlier. Measured on a non-seasonally adjusted annual basis, exports soared 3.9% to 95.7 billion euros in February, while imports rose 0.8% to 76.5 billion euros. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, exports climbed 1.5% and imports by 1.8% compared with the preceding month. A separate report showed German industrial production slowly improved in February. Industrial output increased 0.2% in the reported period, following a revised 0.4% negative growth in the previous month. In annual terms, industrial output fell 0.3% in February, compared to 0.9% increase seen in the previous month.
Meanwhile, in Greece the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to the lowest level since December 2012, but still remained the highest in the EU. The jobless rate ticked down to 25.7% in February, an improvement from 26.0% seen in January. Yet, positive news was overshadowed by a tough deadline the Euro Working Group gave Greece to deliver revised reform proposals to ensure an agreement at a Eurogroup meeting on April 24.
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