Finance & economics | European economies

And now, the S-word

Slow growth and stubborn inflation are dogging the euro area—and its currency

May 24th 2001|Frankfurt

ANOTHER week, another lot of bad news from the euro area. At least the figures from Germany, the area's biggest economy, were largely expected. Industrial confidence slid (again) in April; feeble consumer spending, despite tax cuts, restricted GDP growth to 0.4% in the first quarter. But France, until now a bright spot, is also dimming. Growth in the first quarter, at 0.5%, was weaker than expected, and the figure for the last quarter of 2000 was revised down.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “And now, the S-word”