EC Eurozone Business Climate Indicator Shows Slowly Improving Economy
The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area rose for the seventh successive month in November, said the European Commission (EC) in its latest update, but as it stood at such a low base the economic sentiment metric is only now turning positive for the first time since March 2012.
The EC BCI measurement rose by 0.26 points in November 2013 as the European Union’s executive arm released its latest end of month figures today.
The assessments of past production, the level of overall order books and export order books improved sharply across the euro area, added the EC, as it sought to paint an upbeat recovery message following the previous trails and tribulations of the eurozone crisis.
Production expectations increased in the November measurements, although to a lesser degree as the spare economic capacity is filled during a slow country-specific recovery process, with Greece and other hard hit countries still struggling, while mainly northern European countries lead the recovery.
The survey of a cross-selection of eurozone senior business managers also revealed that stocks of finished products remain broadly unchanged. The next BCI results for the traditionally busy Christmas period during December are due to be published on 9 January 2014.