Eurozone industrial output falls in January: Eurostat

Eurozone industrial output falls in January: Eurostat

 

Brussels (AFP)

 

Eurozone industrial output continued weaker in January, official data showed on Wednesday, but the underlying trend appears consistent with a very modest economic recovery in the single-currency bloc.

 

Industrial output in the 18-nation eurozone fell 0.2 percent in January after a sharper drop of 0.4 percent in December when it had 17 members, the Eurostat statistics agency said.

 

However, in the full 28-country European Union, industrial output was up 0.1 percent, returning to positive territory after a drop of 0.4 percent in December, Eurostat said.

 

Compared with January 2013, eurozone industrial output was up 2.1 percent while the EU gained 2.4 percent.

 

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, saw a rise of 0.4 percent in January, more than reversing a fall of 0.1 percent in December while struggling France was down 0.3 percent, still better than the previous month's drop of 0.5 percent.

 

Non-euro Britain was up 0.1 percent after a gain of 0.5 percent in December.

 

The eurozone escaped a record 18-month recession in the second quarter with overall economic growth of 0.3 percent but this slowed to a marginal 0.1 percent in the third before picking up again to 0.3 percent in the last three months of the year.

 

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(Agence France-Presse, 12 Wednesday March 2014 The Roman)