Euro zone growth revised up to 0.6%

Zurich, June 3: The euro zone economy grew faster than previouslyestimatedatthestartof the year, driven by investment and a pickup in consumer spending.

Gross domestic product rose 0.6% in the first quarter, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg, said on Tuesday. That’s the rate Eurostat initially reported on April 29 before revising growth down to 0.5% on May 13.

After growing at the fastest pace in a year, the European Central Bank (ECB) predicts the 19-nation economy will slow in the second quarter, with inflation rates likely to remain very low or even negative. Among the downside risks to the outlook President Mario Draghi cited last week when he kept stimulus unchanged were subdued prospects in emerging

June 7: International trade, particularly demand from China, is weighing on euro-area prospects. Policy makers in the world’s most populous nation are attempting to steer the economy to growth driven by consumers and services, with officials struggling to rein in surplus production in industries from steel to coal without undermining growth and potentially harming other regional economies. Bloomberg markets, slow progress in structural reforms, and the UK’s June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.

“The fact that both household consumption and investments are improving is helping a more sustainable recovery in the euro zone,” said Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING Bank in Amsterdam. “Without strengthening exports, it seems likely that the pace of growth will decline somewhat this quarter, but a moderate pace should be maintained.”

Diverging paths within the bloc constitute an additional challengeforpolicymakerswho have deployed a raft of unconventional measures including negative interest rates and asset purchases to stoke inflation.

Germanyhasbenefitedfrom record-lowunemployment,and a drop in crude oil prices has proved a boon to disposable incomes. Business sentiment improved to the strongest level in five months in May. Bloomberg