The economic slump leaves the EU lagging behind the United States and China, which both recorded slight quarter-on-quarter growths to the GDP.
Christoph Weil, economist at Commerzbank, said: “In the first quarter of 2021, the decline is likely to be somewhat steeper.
“However, there will not be a slump like the one in the first half of 2020. Instead, a noticeable recovery is likely to set in again from the spring.”
Raffi Boyadjian, a senior investment analyst at currency trader XM, said the euro currency’s woes reflected the bloc’s “vaccine mess”.
Slow EU vaccine roll-out blamed for Eurozone s faltering economic performance (Image: GETTY)
January 3, 2021
The European economy will likely contract by 7% this year its largest dip since World War II. That’s due to months of lockdowns imposed by governments eager to stop the spread of a virus that has killed close to 376,000 people in Europe in the last year.
While there’s no V-shaped recovery in sight, the IMF expects Europe to grow by around 4.7% next year, with much of the growth coming in the second half of 2021 as more people get vaccinated against Covid-19, travel restrictions soften, and grants and loans to fragile economies kick in from the EU’s €750 billion ($920 billion) recovery fund.
SNBâs Frenzied Currency Battle May Give Way to Easier 2021
This content was published on December 16, 2020 - 05:00
December 16, 2020 - 05:00
(Bloomberg) Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan has reason to expect a less intense 2021 after a multi-billion currency battle this year that put Switzerland in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities.
The combination of a landmark European Union fiscal package and the anticipated global economic recovery driven by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will likely dampen demand for haven assets such as the Swiss franc, and a survey sees the currency weakening through 2021.
That should bring relief for Jordan ahead of the last scheduled policy decision of 2020 on Thursday. It means the SNB wonât have to dig as deep as it did this year to prevent the currency from appreciating, spending 90 billion francs ($102 billion) in the first half alone in an escalation of its seemingly endless currency fight.