Eurozone economy grows
February 20, 2015
Economic activity in the eurozone picked up this month even as fraught negotiations over Greece's bailout program threatened to break down, a survey of 4,000 managers showed on Friday.
Analysts at London-based Markit Economics said business activity in the eurozone grew at its fastest rate in seven months in February and that the last time jobs were created this fast was four years ago.
Markit's composite #link:http://www.markiteconomics.com/Survey/PressRelease.mvc/be007dfe9a364164b10392d0572ffcf2:Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)# for the 19-member currency bloc's manufacturing and services sectors rose to 53.5 from 52.6 in January. Any figure over 50 signifies growth.
No fears of a Greek exit
The increase suggested that businesses within the common currency area were shrugging off fears of a Greek exit from the euro.
"Undeterred by the ongoing Greek debt crisis, economic growth is gathering momentum and looks set to gain further traction in coming months," said Markit's chief economist, Chris Williamson. "With the ECB's quantitative easing 'bazooka' due to start in March, business optimism has been boosted to its highest for three-and-a-half years."
The eurozone was on track to expand by 0.3 percent in the first quarter as long as March did not prove disappointing to managers, Williamson added.
A rising tide
Markit also released information on Germany and France earlier in the day, both of which showed signs of strengthening.
The #link:http://www.markiteconomics.com/Survey/PressRelease.mvc/54a10c0e6ce14dfbb978cdc2ae5b1d92:PMI for Germany's manufacturing and services sectors# jumped to 54.3 from 53.5 a month ago. With Europe's largest economy estimated to grow by 1.5 percent this year, experts are convinced that Germany will continue to be a rising tide that keeps the eurozone afloat.
France's services sector grew at its fastest rate in three years, offsetting weakness among manufacturers and pushing its #link:http://www.markiteconomics.com/Survey/PressRelease.mvc/b6bc1f701e814e5fab60f5e56429f5e4:composite index to 52.2 from 49.3# - its best result since August 2011.