- Anna Zabrodzka, economist at Moody's Analytics
Another gleam of hope for the 17-nation economy has emerged on Monday, as official figures indicated a sharp rebound in industrial output, which expanded at the strongest pace in more than two years in August. Eurostat said Eurozone factories saw their output jumping 1.0% in the month, beating analysts' projections of a 0.8% gain and recovering from July's upwardly revised 1.0% contraction. When measured on an annual basis, production fell 2.1% over the same period, compared with a 1.9% recorded a month earlier. Nonetheless, figures were uneven as output in Germany and France advanced 1.8% and 0.2%, while Italy registered a 0.3% contraction. All these countries account around two-thirds of the overall production figure for the whole region. Furthermore, Spain posted a steep decline as well.
Although data is mixed, it reflects the ongoing improvement in the Eurozone, however, the amelioration is fragile and many economies are still struggling to grow and there is no time for complacency. The economy is recovering albeit slowly, and while the recent figures can be encouraging, they also show that in June the output was about 12.5% below its pre-crisis peak. Analysts are stressing out growth and manufacturing data are likely to be choppy from month to month, and the recovery from the longest-ever recession is far from secure.
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