EU plays down need for further stimulus amid shrink forecasts

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone finance chiefs on Monday recommended against additional stimulus measures in spite of forecast economic contraction in the region and in Latin America.

"All ministers in the Eurogroup, including the European Central Bank, agree that the fiscal efforts launched by the Eurozone countries should be sufficient for the time being," said Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg prime minister and the chairman of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers.

Juncker's view was echoed by Austrian Finance Minister Josef Proell at a regular monthly meeting of the Eurogroup.

"We have a lot in the pipeline...Many elements of the stimulus packages, many of our tax reductions will only start to have an effect in the coming weeks and months," Proell said.

The European Commission forecast earlier on Monday that the Eurozone economy will contract by 4 percent this year and by a further 0.1 percent next year, plunging into the deepest and most widespread recession since the Second World War.

It was a sharp revise-down from a January estimate, which forecast a contraction of 1.8 percent for the EU and 1.9 percent for the euro zone this year before positive growth for both areas next year.

Meanwhile, economy of Central and South America, which is busying combating the A/H1N1 influenza, will shrink over 0.3 percent in 2009, said the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA).

Mexico, the center of the epidemic, will be hardest hit with impacts on its tourism, transportation and food industries as the virus continues to spread. The country is to see a deep reduction of 2 percent in its economy this year, said ECLA.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Monday said it had received reports of 1,003 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 influenza from 20 countries, warning of "many surprise" changes in its evolvement.

The initial situation can change "in many ways, with many, many surprises," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

"Historically, influenza pandemic has encircled the world in two, sometimes three waves," she said, citing the deadliest 1918 pandemic.

Major epidemic outbreaks usually mean dwindling business opportunities and reluctant trade. In 2008, a flu pandemic cost 3 trillion U.S. dollars and caused a nearly five-percent drop in world gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.

Observers have feared the flu could reverse initial gains in the fight against the economic recession, thus delaying the process toward an end of its grips on the world economy.

Eurogroup chief warns of social crisis
with unemployment set to jump

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- European countries are
heading into a "social crisis" as unemployment is set to jump amid the financial
and economic crisis, the chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers warned
on Monday.

"We are in the heart of an economic and financial
crisis and we are heading towards a social crisis," Jean-Claude Juncker, who is
also the Luxembourg Prime Minister, told reporters after chairing a regular
monthly meeting with Eurozone finance ministers. Full story

Eurozone economic sentiment rebounds for first time in two years

BRUSSELS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone economic sentiment picked up from a record low in April, for the first time since May2007, a survey conducted by the European Commission showed on Wednesday.

The economic sentiment indicator in the 16-nation bloc sharing the euro increased by 2.5 points to 67.2 in April, after having kept falling in the past two years and reached a record low of 64.7 last month.

In the 27-nation European Union (EU), the monthly indicator, based on business and consumer surveys, also rose by 3.5 points in April to 63.9.

The surveys are conducted in different sectors of the economy, namely industry, services, construction and retail trade, as well as among consumers.

The rebound in April resulted from a clear improvement in sentiment in industry and among consumers, which in both the euro zone and the EU rose by the same amount of 3 points, and a smaller increase in services, a rise of 1 point in both regions.

Retail trade sentiment grew by 2 points in the EU, but fell by 2 points in the euro zone. Construction, in contrast, declined in both areas, by 1 point in the EU and by 2 points in the euro zone.

The majority of EU member states registered an improvement in April. Among the largest ones, economic sentiment in Italy rose the most, up 6.4 points, followed by Britain and the Netherlands, up 5.1 and 4.2 points respectively, while the rise was less sizable in France and Germany, up 1.0 and 0.8 points respectively.

The financial services confidence indicator, which is not included in the economic sentiment, improved markedly in both areas, by 11 points in the EU and by 16 points in the euro zone.

Compared to March, managers' assessment of business situation and demand for their services augmented significantly. Managers' expectations of demand improved strongly and became positive for the fist time since October 2008.

Meanwhile, the business climate indicator (BCI) for the euro zone also increased in April, the first improvement since May 2008,the commission said in a separate survey.

The rise in the BCI reflected an improving situation in most of its underlying components. Managers' production expectations picked up clearly in April, while the production trend observed in recent months improved only slightly. Their assessment of current overall order books and stocks of finished goods recovered marginally from last month's level, though export order books continued to worsen.

However, the commission said the indicator remained at a very low level, pointing to another negative outcome for year-on-year industrial production growth in March, after the record fall registered in February.

"Given the current levels, it also suggests that annual industrial production growth will remain clearly subdued in April," it said.