The European crisis strikes again. Is strong. The GDP of the 17 Eurozone countries in the second quarter fell by 0,2% compared to the first and marked a decline of 0,4% compared to the same period of 2011. In the European Union of 27, the economy recorded a decline of 0,2% (both on a cyclical and trend basis), worsening compared to the +0% and +0,1% of the first quarter. With regard to Italy Eurostat estimated a decline of 0,7% quarterly and 2,5% tendentially (In line with Istat data), thus placing itself in the third worst place in the standings, after Greece (-6,2%) and Portugal (-3,3%). Conversely, Germany (+0,3% and +1%) and France (+0% and +0,3%) grew.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION – Not better news for the industry. In the Eurozone in June industrial production scored a a monthly decrease of 0,6% after +0,9% in May, while on an annual basis the decrease was 2,1%. In the 27 EU countries, on the other hand, there was a decrease of 0,9% on a quarterly basis and of 2,2% on a trend basis. As far as individual countries are concerned, the most significant drop compared to the first three months of 2012 concerned the United Kingdom (-2,5%) and, in fourth position, also Italy (-1,4%), while excellent performances were the performances of Lithuania (+18,6%), Slovenia (+2,9%) and Ireland (+2,7%). But look at the trend data Italy the black jersey of Europe results with a collapse of the8,2% compared to the same month in 2011. It is the worst figure of the entire EU 27 and of the Eurozone. In Germany the decline was 0,4%, in France 2,6%, in the United Kingdom 4,6%.
ZEW INDEX – However, expectations on the Italian economy are improving. In August, the Zew, the index that measures the confidence of German institutional investors, rose by 0,5 points to -28,6 from -29,1 in July. In Germany, the same Zew in August was worse than expected, highlighting the fourth consecutive fall: le expectations were for a stable Zew index at -19,6, while it dropped to -25,5 in August, the lowest level in all of 2012.
