Brussels, 29/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European employers' organisation, BusinessEurope, says that average growth in the eurozone and EU28 will rise by 1.6% and 1.9% of GDP respectively this year, higher than the 1.2% and 1.7% predicted in its previous forecasts in the autumn of 2014.
'The improved outlook is largely a result of fortunate circumstances such as the decline in oil prices and the weaker euro. To maintain a stronger recovery over the long-term, Europe must reduce structural obstacles to investment, competitiveness and growth,' explained BusinessEurope's director general, Markus Beyrer, in a press release, warning that 'access to finance for companies will become an increasingly biting constraint once the economy picks up.'
BusinessEurope says that unemployment will fall slightly in 2015 from 11.3% to 10.6% in the eurozone and from 9.8% to 9.5% in the EU28. Inflation will remain low in 2015 but gradually increase to 1.2% in the eurozone and 1.5% in the EU28 in 2016.
On the same day, the European Commission said that the economic sentiment indicator changed little in April 2015, following three months of improvement. (Mathieu Bion)