Eurozone's Overall Economic Growth Rate at 4.8%... Upward Revision After 2 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] On the 7th (local time), the European Union (EU) executive body, the European Commission, announced that the Eurozone (19 member countries using the euro) economy is expected to rebound more strongly than initially anticipated, raising this year's economic growth forecast from 4.3% to 4.8%.

This is a 0.5 percentage point increase from the '2021 Spring Economic Forecast' released in May (4.3%).

The European Commission stated that economic activity in the first quarter was more active than expected, and recent statistics also show a strong recovery in private consumption.

The Commission analyzed that the European economy is showing a strong recovery trend, with the service sector, especially tourism, beginning to normalize in the second quarter.

However, the Commission also raised this year's inflation forecast from 1.7% to 1.9%, pointing out the need to closely monitor the rising price trend.

The Commission analyzed that rising energy and commodity prices and supply chain disruptions are increasing price pressures this year, but inflation is expected to slow down again next year.

The Commission expressed concerns about wage increases and potential financial market impacts due to fluctuations in international oil prices, and particularly noted that the spread of the Delta variant could also affect the economy.

Previously, in the 2021 Spring Economic Forecast, the European Commission predicted that the Eurozone's real GDP would increase by 4.3% this year and 4.4% next year compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.