The European Commission predicts that the European Union's economy will see slow but increasing economic growth this year and next year, according to a new forecast published on Wednesday.
The commission said in a press release that growth in early 2024 "marks the end of the prolonged period of economic stagnation that started in the final quarter of 2022."
Nevertheless, while Wednesday's Spring Forecast paints a slightly rosier view of 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the bloc than the previous Winter Forecast published in February, it cuts the estimate for 2023 and its prediction for 2025.
The commission publishes such seasonal forecasts four times per year.
The latest forecast upgrades projected GDP growth in 2024 from 0.9% to 1%. It also cuts the estimate for 2023 from 0.5% to 0.4%, and the 2025 prediction from 1.7% to 1.6%.
The new figures also give a bleaker outlook for the 20 countries of the single-currency eurozone. The commission now expects GDP growth in those countries of 0.4% in 2023, down from 0.5% in the previous forecast; 0.8% in 2024, down from 0.9%; and 1.4% in 2025, down from 1.5%.
February's Winter Forecast had already downgraded many of the estimates from the previous Autumn forecast.
On the other hand, the commission now expects quarterly inflation to reach the European Central Bank's 2% target slightly earlier in 2025 than it predicted in its last forecast. Overall inflation for that entire year is forecast at 2.2%.
Unemployment is expected to remain fairly steady, at 6.1% in 2023 and 2024 and 6% in 2025.
