ECB said in its monthly economic bulletin that more recent information “points to a stabilisation in global growth”. In particular, survey-based data like PMI point to a “moderate recovery in manufacturing output growth and some moderation in services output growth”. Nevertheless, global recovery is projected to be “shallow”, reflecting moderation of growth in advanced economies and sluggishness in some emerging markets.
For Eurozone, however, ongoing weakness of international trade continues to weigh on manufacturing sector and is dampening investment growth. Survey-based data, while remaining weak overall, point to some stabilization of slowdown too.
Measures of underlying inflation in Eurozone “generally remained muted”. ECB added, that “market-based indicators of longer-term inflation expectations have remained at very low levels, while survey-based expectations also stand at historical lows.
EU von der Leyen: Time extremely short for mass negotiations with UK
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told German Der Spiegel that she’s worried about UK’s schedule to complete negotiations of future relationship by end of 2020. She said, “that worries me a lot, because time is extremely short for the mass of issues that have to be negotiated.”
Separately, she told French daily Les Echo that both sides need to needed to seriously assess if there is enough time to complete trade negotiations. And, “it would be reasonable to evaluate the situation mid-year and then, if necessary, agree on extending the transition period.”