Eurozone on back foot as weak construction sector hits growth
EUROZONE construction output fell in November, official figures showed yesterday, in another sign of the currency area’s weakness.
Production in the sector fell by 0.1 per cent on the month in the Eurozone and 0.2 per cent in the wider European Union.
Compared with November 2013, output is up 2.2 per cent in the Eurozone. But that still leaves output at the same level as it was in mid-2012, and almost 30 per cent below its peak in late 2006.
Meanwhile the European Central Bank (ECB) said the currency area’s trade surplus may be shrinking.
“According to customs the trade surplus reached two all-time highs in October and November 2014, but the ECB figure is far from confirming this strength, the surplus of the last two months is much smaller than that of September,” said BNP Paribas’ Dominique Barbet. “We have a significant decline in exports and also in imports, prices probably explaining most the fall in imports, according to our calculations.”