span>span>Friday 29th April /span>span>2022/span>span> - 10:22 (BST)/span>/span>
Initial estimates by Eurostat have indicated that the Eurozone economy grew slightly during the first quarter of 2022, against a backdrop of post-pandemic supply chain issues combined with ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The readings showed a 0.2% growth across the region between January and March, below the 0.3% estimated and the least since the bloc exited a recession last year.
Individually, Germany beat growth estimates with 0.2% expansion whilst France and Spain’s economic output stagnated during the same time frame.
Conversely, yesterday’s figures out of the US showed its economy unexpectedly contracted 1.4% over Q1 2022, piling pressure on President Joe Biden and fuelling fears of a slowdown in global growth.
This was the first US contraction since the height of the pandemic in 2020 and also significancy lower than the 1% growth anticipated. The slowdown reflected a ballooning trade deficit and softer inventory growth, which offset otherwise solid demand from consumers and businesses.
All readings now also pose a challenge to both the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank who will need to balance efforts to curb surging inflation with the mounting risk of sparking another recession.
