Economic sentiment in both the euro zone and the wider European Union improved during January, the European Commission said yesterday.
The EU's economic sentiment indicator regained the ground lost in December and reached its highest level since summer 2001, rising by 0.4 per cent to 96.6 per cent.
For the euro zone, the indicator rose by 0.2 per cent to 95.8 per cent.
The monthly economic sentiment indicator reflects general economic activity in the EU, combining assessments and expectations from business and consumer surveys.
This month, exceptionally, the indicators do not include data from France because of changes to French questionnaires.
The Commission's department of economic and financial affairs said that the improvement in the overall economic climate was most marked in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal. Only in Spain, Denmark and Luxembourg was there a small decline.
All the various components of the indicator improved. The industrial confidence indicator for the EU reached its highest level in nearly three years.
The pick-up was particularly strong in Ireland, the UK, Sweden and Germany. Only in Luxembourg and to a lesser extent, Belgium and Denmark, did industrial confidence decline. The Commission attributed the increase to improvements in expectations of production, saying that the assessment of order books and stock was unchanged in January.
The consumer confidence indicator for the EU continued to rise, as it has continually since spring last year, increasing by one point to minus 12. Consumer confidence in the euro zone was unchanged at minus 16.
