LONDON (AP) – The economy of the 19 countries that use the euro got off to a strong start in 2017 even as inflation pressures continue to mount in the wake of the recent rise in oil prices, a closely watched survey showed Friday.
Financial information company IHS Markit said its gauge of business activity across the manufacturing and services sectors held steady at a five-and-a-half-year high of 54.4 points in January, still way above the 50 threshold between expansion and contraction. Even more impressive, the gauge of job creation spiked to a near nine-year high.
The firm said the recovery remains broad-based across the eurozone, but that it was particularly strong in Ireland, Spain and France.
The survey comes hot on the heels of figures showing the eurozone economy expanded by a healthy 0.5 percent quarterly tick in the final three months of the year and several other indicators pointing to a pick-up in activity.
IHS Markit said its survey points to a modest decline in the quarterly growth rate to 0.4 percent and that it anticipates this “robust” growth over the year, not least because of the improving jobs backdrop. Figures earlier this week showed unemployment across the region dropped to 9.6 percent, its lowest level since May 2009, before a financial implosion in Greece that year set off a debt crisis that almost shattered the eurozone.