Eurozone economic confidence picks up

People on terrace of cafe in Paris London - Arab Today Economic and business confidence in the 17-nation eurozone picked up further in October but the pace of improvement has slowed, official EU data showed on Wednesday. The European Commission said its Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose 0.9 points to 97.8 points in October. The eurozone emerged from a record 18-month recession in the second quarter this year with better-than-expected growth of 0.3 percent, but recent data has suggested the expansion may have cooled since then. The Commission said this was the case with the ESI reading. "While the upward trend observed since May has been continued, the magnitude and sectoral scope of the improvement in confidence has moderated compared to recent months," it said in a statement. Another survey painted a similar picture of a continued, slow improvement. The Commission said its Business Climate Indicator rose 0.18 points in October to finish at minus 0.01, again extending gains from May. At the worst of the debt crisis and economic slump in 2009, the BCI was at more than minus 20 points for several months. The Commission, the EU's executive arm, said production, production expectations and order books all "improved markedly" in October in the BCI survey. Source: AFP