9th May 2014

Competitiveness: EC spring economic forecast brings good news

On 5 May, the European Commission published its spring economic forecast. According to the document, the European Union should continue to recover from recession in a stable manner. For 2014, the EC expects growth of 1.6% and 2.0% in 2015. The eurozone will face a lower growth of 1.2% and 1.7% respectively. All the numbers are, however, only valid if the Member States apply all the measures they have agreed upon. According to Commission Vice-President Kallas, the most important thing is not the stable growth itself, but rather the resulting improvement in the labor market. New jobs are being created and this trend is expected to continue into 2015, but efforts should nevertheless not be lessened. For 2015, the EC expects EU unemployment to be at 10.1%, 11.4% for the eurozone. Even though investment is slowly picking up, it is the domestic demand that should provide the overall economic growth.

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic