Eurozone economies remain fragile amid inflation pressure
EUROZONE industrial new orders were weaker than expected in October and producer prices grew less than anticipated in November, data published yesterday showed, underlining the fragile nature of the economic recovery and weak inflationary pressures.
Industrial new orders in the 16 countries using the euro fell 2.2 per cent in October against September, the European Union statistics office Eurostat said yesterday.
Orders were dragged lower mainly by a slump in volatile demand for ships, planes and trains, without which the monthly decline was only 0.4 per cent. October new orders, which will translate into industrial production over the following months, were 14.5 per cent lower than a year earlier, although that was only half the annual decline in May.
“October’s sharp relapse in industrial orders is a reminder that the euro zone still faces a difficult economic environment and sustainable recovery certainly cannot be taken for granted,” said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.
“Meanwhile, underlying inflationary pressures are still very low in the euro zone,” he said.