Brussels, Belgium (BBN)-Economic growth in the eurozone slowed to 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of the year, latest figures have shown.
The rate was lower than expected, and compared with a pace of 0.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter, reports BBC.
The pace of expansion in Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, slowed, but France returned to growth.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected in December to expand its stimulus programme, which aims to lift inflation and support growth.
HIGHER IMPORTS
Germany’s economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the July-to-September period, down from 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
The country’s Federal Statistics Office said the economy had shown “continued moderate growth”, helped by increased domestic consumption.
But it added foreign trade “had a downward effect on growth, because the increase in imports was markedly larger than that of exports”.
The French economy also grew by 0.3 per cent in the same period, but this marked a pick-up from zero growth previously.
The French statistics agency INSEE said a rise in imports had also weighed on the country’s growth rate.
But it added that the economy saw an increase in household spending, and that production of goods and services picked up.
“The [GDP] figure… confirms that we have left in 2015 the period of very weak growth that France had experienced since 2011,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.
Among the other major eurozone economies, the growth rate in Italy slowed to 0.2 per cent, which was worse than expected, while the Spanish economy grew by 0.8 per cent.
Portugal’s economy recorded zero growth despite having expanded by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter. Greece’s economy contracted by 0.5 per cent, while Finland’s shrank by 0.6 per cent.
The Eurostat figures showed the eurozone’s economy grew by 1.6 per cent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier.
“The third-quarter slowdown in eurozone GDP growth appears to have been largely the consequence of negative net trade,” said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.
“This suggests that the benefit to eurozone exporters coming from the weak euro was offset by muted global growth.”
MORE QE?
Expectations are growing that the European Central Bank (ECB) will expand its monetary stimulus programme at its meeting next month.
In October, the bank said it would “re-examine” the policy, and on Thursday, ECB president Mario Draghi said the bank was ready to extend its policy if needed.
In January this year, the ECB started a quantitative easing (QE) stimulus programme worth at least €1.1 trillion in an attempt to avoid deflation and boost growth in the eurozone.
The bank has committed to buy €60bn of bonds a month until September 2016.
The most recent figures showed inflation in the eurozone returned to zero in October from September’s -0.1%.
Speaking to the European Parliament on Thursday, Draghi said: “Signs of a sustained turnaround in core inflation have somewhat weakened.
“We have always said that our purchases would run beyond end-September 2016 in case we do not see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation.”
BBN/SK/AD