Euro area growth likely to be unchanged – Lloyds Bank

Research Team at Lloyds Bank, suggests that in the euro area, new figures are expected to show the economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of last year – the same as the previous quarter but slower than the first half of the year.

Key Quotes

“The aggregate figure is likely to disguise marked differences within the region. Preliminary growth figures for France of +0.2% already show the impact of the Paris terrorist attacks in November, while Spain continued to post solid growth of 0.8%.

While the fall in oil prices and the weak euro should support growth across the single currency region this year, other growth indicators have been less supportive. Given this, the European Central Bank is likely to provide a helping hand, with another cut in its deposit rate and further quantitative easing, possibly next month.”