Brussels, 05/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 6 September, the Commission will be publishing its interim growth and inflation forecasts for 2006 in the eurozone and the EU of 25. It is very likely that it will make an upward review of the figures given earlier in its spring forecasts for the eurozone (EUROPE 9187), when it predicted a rise of 2.1% in GDP compared to 1.3% in 2005. For the EU25, 2006 growth forecasts stood at 2.3% compared to 1.6% the year before. Pending the autumn economic forecasts, to be announced in November, this second intermediary exercise by the Commission after that in February this year (EUROPE 9136) will mainly cover the growth and inflation prospects for the German, French, Italian, Spanish, British and Polish economies.
We recall that, during the second half of 2006, the annual rate of growth was 2.6% in the eurozone and 2.8% in the EU25, according to Eurostat (EUROPE 9257). The European Central Bank (ECB) has made an upward correction of GDP forecasts for the current year within the eurozone with a range of 2.2% to 2.8%, and has established the inflation rate at between 2.3% and 2.5% for 2006 (EUROPE 9255).