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Vitor Constancio (left), vice president of the European Central Bank, and Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, attend a news conference at the bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt. (Bloomberg) |
All euro-area countries will post positive economic growth in 2014 as policy measures help pull nations out of recession, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said.
Core economies in the euro region such as Germany and France will recover sooner, enjoying growth in the second half of next year, while it takes those with deeper economic contractions longer to improve, Constancio told reporters in Santiago after participating in a meeting of policy makers from Europe and Latin America.
“Countries under stress will continue next year their adjustment policies,” he said. “It’s true that the recovery from mid-next year will be initially mostly in the core countries of Europe, but for 2014 the situation will be different because we expect all countries will enjoy some growth.”
The Frankfurt-based ECB cut its economic forecasts, with President Mario Draghi saying economic weakness will continue into 2013. The ECB predicts the euro-area economy will shrink 0.3 percent next year, from an earlier forecast of 0.5 percent growth. Risks to the outlook remain on the downside, Draghi said, adding the economy should pick up later in 2013.
Germany, which is the euro-area’s biggest economy, will grow 1 percent in 2013 and 1.5 percent the following year, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Spanish gross domestic product will shrink 1.5 percent next year before expanding 0.5 percent in 2014, the surveys show.
Spain has tapped 100 billion euros ($129 billion) of aid for its banks, and the government is deliberating whether to call on Europe’s rescue fund to help shore up its own accounts. The country’s efforts to curb its deficit “hardly advanced” in the first eight months of 2012, the European Commission said on Friday.
(Bloomberg)
