Europe’s economy is roaring back from the coronavirus crisis. Growth in the euro area outpaced both the US and China in the last quarter, more than 70 per cent of EU adults have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, investment is booming and unemployment is falling.
However, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde sounded a cautious note last week, saying “we are not out of the woods” and highlighting a number of risks over the coming months, despite raising its growth forecasts for the third consecutive time this year.
Economists say the European economy is in the “sweet spot” of its bounceback from the record postwar recession caused by the pandemic last year. But they warn the region looks set to follow the pattern seen in the US and China, which recovered faster from the Covid-19 crisis only for their rebounds to lose momentum more recently.