The euro zone will not return to
growth until 2014, the European Commission said on Friday, reversing its
prediction for an end to recession this year and blaming a lack of bank lending
and record joblessness for delaying the recovery.
The 17-nation bloc's economy,
which generates nearly a fifth of global output, will shrink 0.3 percent in
2013, the Commission said, meaning the euro zone will remain in its second
recession since 2009 for a year longer than originally foreseen.
The Commission, the EU executive,
late last year forecast 0.1 percent growth in the euro zone's economy for 2012,
but now says tight lending conditions for companies and households, job cuts
and frozen investment have delayed an expected recovery.
The Commission sees the euro zone
economy growing 1.4 percent in 2014, with a figure of -0.6 percent for 2012.
"The improved financial
market situation contrasts with the absence of credit growth and the weakness
of the near-term outlook for economic activity," said Marco Buti, the
commission's director-general for economic and monetary affairs. "The
labour market... is a serious concern," he said, in a preamble to the
Commission's latest forecasts.
The European Central Bank's
promise last year to do what it takes to defend its common currency has removed
the risk of a break-up of the euro zone, and member countries' borrowing costs
have come down from unsustainable levels.
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