The eurozone economy has suffered its worst month for three years amid warnings recession in Germany is ‘well under way’.
Data provider S&P Global said its so-called purchasing managers’ index (PMI) of private sector activity in the single currency bloc fell to 46.5 in October.
That was well below the 50 cut-off between growth and decline and marked the worst performance since November 2020. Outside the pandemic, it was the weakest reading since March 2013.
The eurozone economy has suffered its worst month for three years amid warnings recession in Germany is ‘well under way’
‘In the eurozone, things are moving from bad to worse,’ said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.
‘We wouldn’t be caught off guard to see a mild recession in the eurozone in the second half of this year with two back-to-back quarters of negative growth.’ Germany – which has been dubbed ‘the sick man of Europe’ having for so long been the driving force of the economy – clocked up a score of just 45.8.
‘Germany is kicking off the final quarter on a sour note,’ said de la Rubia. ‘There is much to suggest that a recession in Germany is well under way.’
S&P said France also started the fourth quarter of the year ‘with another steep contraction’ as it record a PMI score of 45.3.
‘The French economy is still feeling the heat at the start of the fourth quarter,’ the report from S&P said.
‘Things are going south in the manufacturing sector, and there is no relief in sight.’
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