LONDON: Further evidence emerged yesterday that the economic recovery across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro is picking up and that unemployment may be peaking.
The composite purchasing managers’ index — a gauge of business activity across the manufacturing and services sectors published by financial information company Markit — rose for the sixth month running to a 27-month high of 52.1 points in September from 51.5 in August.
That’s further above the 50 threshold that indicates expansion and is the latest indicator to suggest the eurozone economic recovery is gathering pace. The rise was also bigger than anticipated — the consensus of analysts’ forecasts was for a far more modest rise to 51.7.
The increase was driven by faster growth of new business, while new orders increased for the second month running and rose at their fastest rate since the middle of 2011.
The eurozone is badly in need of economic growth following its longest recession since the single European currency was launched in 1999. In the second quarter of 2013, the eurozone grew by 0.3 percent compared with the previous three-month period following six straight quarterly declines that pushed unemployment to a record of 12.1 percent.
Analysts said the survey was particularly encouraging because the signs of the economic revival were not just confined to Germany. “Although the upturn continued to be led by Germany, France saw the first increase in business since early 2012 and elsewhere growth was the strongest since early 2011,” said Chris Williamson, Markit’s chief economist.
AP
