Plummeting value of the euro yet to boost European exports
THE EUROZONE’S trade figures suggest the currency union’s exports are yet to benefit from the declining value of the euro.
Compared to January last year, the Eurozone’s trade surplus – the value of exports minus the value of imports – rose from €0.1bn (£726m) to €7.9bn, according to data released yesterday by Eurostat, the European Commission’s official statistics office. However, the improvement was not due to a bumper month for exports, but to a 5.6 per cent year-on-year decline in imports.
“Looking ahead, we expect the external sector to fare better in the coming months. On past form, the depreciation of the euro in trade-weighted terms points to a pick-up in annual export growth to around 15 per cent later this year,” said economist Jack Allen from Capital Economics.
More positively, construction in the Eurozone grew by 1.9 per cent year on year in January.