Euro zone economic sentiment improved slightly in June, but the short-term economic outlook for the 12-member bloc remains uncertain, the European Commission said today.
A separate report, the European Union statistics office said euro zone inflation edged higher this month, rising to the European Central Bank's 2 per cent target from 1.9 per cent in May.
The Commission's economic sentiment index rose to 98.2 from a revised reading of 98.1 in May - in line with economists' expectations. A business climate indicator released at the same time rose slightly to -0.61 in June from -0.68 in May.
The release of the Commission and Eurostat reports coincided with the publication of the Bank for International Settlement's annual report, which said the world economy was stuck in "an uncomfortable soft spot", with deflation and a weakening dollar new threats to an already stuttering recovery.
A breakdown by country showed economic sentiment rose in Germany and Portugal. It was unchanged in Belgium, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Austria and fell in Finland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.