Eurozone confidence ‘recovering’?

Economic confidence in the Eurozone has been falling, but are we seeing signs of a recovery…?

The answer is…maybe.  According to the European Commission, Economic confidence in the Eurozone remained stable in May, while business climate indicator picked up slightly.

The monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) - , based on business and consumer surveys - stood at 97.1 in May, the same level as in April and the lowest level since September 2005. The indicator had been on a downward path since mid-2007, so the stablisation will come as a relief for Eurozone countries.

Germany ‘stable’

At the country level, most countries registered a decline in economic sentiment in May. Among the large member states, confidence improved markedly in Italy, rising by three percent, though not enough to bring it above its long-term average, and remained almost stable in Germany, while confidence weakened further in Britain by 5.2 percent and by 3.3 percent in France.

A separate report by the European Commission further revealed that the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro zone picked up slightly in May after a drop in April.

A spokesperson for the commission noted: “The increase in the BCI was mainly due to an improvement in industry managers' appraisals of the production trend in recent months. Managers' assessments of their export order books deteriorated slightly, while their production expectations and their views on total order books and stocks of finished products remained unchanged”.