Eurozone economic growth remains steady as EU shows no negative effects from Brexit
GDP increase stayed at 0.3% in the third quarter – remaining unchanged from the three months before the UK’s historic vote to Leave
THE EUROZONE is feeling no negative effect from Brexit after official figures showed it maintained another steady quarter of growth.
The three months after the UK’s historic vote to Leave saw GDP grow by 0.3%, the same figure it grew by before the EU referendum.
Its official statistics agency said the combined economic output of the countries which use the Euro grew at an annualized rate of 1.4%, below the 2% recorded by the Britain in the same period.
But the figure will still be welcomed by those who feared Brexit would spark turmoil for the continent, and weaken consumer confidence.
The weaker pound also doesn’t seem to have affected the Eurozone’s second-largest overseas export market.
And there are early indications economic growth may pick up in the final months of 2016 after a survey of businesses and consumers found they were at their most upbeat since the end of 2015.
It comes after it was revealed last week Britain’s economy had grown in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum despite the doom-laden Project Fear predictions in the referendum campaign.
The UK’s GDP grew by 0.5% in the third quarter, thanks to a “strong performance” from the Britain’s powerhouse services sector.
That flies in the face of the Remainers, who predicted the economy would go into meltdown immediately after Brexit.
Treasury scaremongering had claimed Britain’s economy would actually shrink by between 0.1 and 1% between July and September – but instead it grew.
Economists had been pencilling in slower growth of 0.3 per cent but the economy outstripped their expectations.
However the Office of National Statistics also warned that “strong performance in the dominant services industries continued to offset further falls in construction, while manufacturing continued to be broadly flat.”
Responding to the good news, the Chancellor said: “The fundamentals of the UK economy are strong, and today’s data show that the economy is resilient.
“We are moving into a period of negotiations with the EU and we are determined to get the very best deal for households and businesses.”
Philip Hammond added: “The economy will need to adjust to a new relationship with the EU, but we are well-placed to deal with the challenges and take advantage of opportunities ahead.”