Eurozone Economy Hits 2023 High Despite Iran War Disruptions
The Eurozone business activity has reached its highest level this year, according to the latest PMI surveys. The S&P Global flash PMI surveys for August revealed that the region's economy is growing at a faster pace due to stronger new orders, particularly in manufacturing, and renewed export growth.
New orders have risen at their fastest rate in 40 months, while export orders have increased for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The factory PMI has also risen to a more than four-year high of 52.8 from 51.9.
The resilience of the Eurozone economy is being attributed to its ability to withstand disruptions from the US-Zionist entity war on Iran. Bert Colijn at ING stated, 'So far, the impact (of the Iran war) has been far from devastating ... the euro zone economy has been quite resilient so far, and momentum remains surprisingly decent.'
However, despite the encouraging data, firms are less optimistic about the year-ahead outlook. Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics warned that 'near-term risks are tilted towards headline inflation surging past 3 percent and reaching just under 4 percent by the end of the year.'