Economic Confidence in Eurozone Rises

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Economic confidence in Eurozone continues its upward trend adding signs that the recovery of the European Monetary Union (EMU) is gaining momentum. According to Eurostat, in September the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) increased by 1.6 points in Eurozone (to 96.9) and 2.4 points in the EU (to 100.6). The EU economic confidence overpassed its long-term average for the first time since July 2011. In the Eurozone, the increase in market confidence resulted from markedly improved confidence across all business sectors, whereby improvements in construction and retail trade were particularly pronounced. Economic sentiment improved in three of the five largest euro area economies, namely in Spain (+2.5), Italy (+2.5) and France (+1.6). On the other hand, sentiment in Germany remained broadly unchanged (+0.3), while it worsened somewhat in the Netherlands (-0.9).