Germany is one of the Eurozone countries hit hardest by the Russia-Ukraine war, which is leading towards feeble growth prospects and high inflation. German GDP is expected to barely increase by 1.3% in 2022, compared to a Eurozone average of 2.5%. Average annual GDP growth will remain 0.9% below the year-end 2019 level. At the same time, inflation is expected to reach 8.1% in 2022, driven up by high energy prices. Between the minimum wage hike promised by the government and expected wage increases in many sectors, wage growth should accelerate strongly in 2022, but may not be sufficient to offset the inflationary shock.
The French economy is stuck between three developments with different effects: an inflation shock that is denting consumer spending, a negative supply shock (supply constraints in industry) and the lifting of public health restrictions (benefiting growth as of the second quarter, having held it back in the first quarter). Government measures that have limited inflation were unable to prevent negative growth in the first quarter. However, the positive impact of the lifting of public health restrictions and a rebound in purchasing power should allow for a recovery towards positive growth in the third quarter (+0.3% q/q).
In contrast to the previous recessions, the Italian economy has already recovered what it lost in 2020. The carry over for 2022 is 2.6%. In Q1 2022, real GDP rose by 0.1%, with an annual growth rate above 6%. Value added for construction continued to increase, while manufacturing declined and services stagnated. The economic recovery mainly reflects the robust evolution of investment, while private consumption declined, as Italian households remained extremely cautious. Imports rose strongly, bringing the current account balance into negative territory. The economic recovery in 2021 was less intense in the Southern regions than in the Centre-North, thereby widening the gap between the two areas.
After a weaker economic rebound than its European neighbours in 2021, Spain is expected to report solid growth of more than 4% in 2022. Despite the Ukraine war’s impact on inflation and purchasing power, the job market remains on an uptrend, with 186,000 jobs created in the first five months of the year. This dynamic should extend into the summer months with a stronger recovery in tourism, although current disruptions affecting the airlines in Europe could undermine this outlook. Moreover, inflation might not peak until later in the year, since price increases for food and household appliances are currently gaining traction.
With an energy mix comprised of nearly 90% fossil fuels, the Netherlands have been hit by the full brunt of the sharp rise in oil and gas prices since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, the Netherlands has one of the highest inflation rates in Europe. Even so, household consumption is resilient, and the majority of companies esteem that business will remain vigorous in the months ahead. Thanks to this strong performance, the government has been able to focus on a limited series of support measures while continuing to reduce the debt of public administrations. Yet the Netherlands also faces another type of inflation that is just as alarming: house price inflation
Belgian GDP grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2022, as inflation continues to reach new all-time highs. Consumer confidence took a hit at the start of the Russian invasion, with growth subsequently likely to have come to a standstill. Index-linking of wages as an income-protection mechanism should eventually soften the inflation-induced blow to private consumption, but the international competitiveness of Belgian firms will suffer as a result. Against a backdrop of rising interest rates, fiscal consolidation remains crucial.
After surging above 10% this spring, inflation will be the main headwind hampering Greek GDP growth in 2022. Yet the economy has proven to be resilient so far. Unemployment has been at the lowest rate since 2010, and GDP has rebounded robustly since the end of lockdown measures in 2020. A recession is unlikely this year, especially since tourism is primed for a solid summer season. On 20 August 2022, Greece will officially exit the European Commission’s enhanced economic surveillance programme, which it entered in June 2018. In May, the country also repaid the last of the IMF loans (EUR 1.9 bn) contracted during the 2011 crisis. Eleven years later, Greece is taking another step towards the normalisation of its economic system.
Denmark stands out for its vigorous economic recovery, which was much stronger than that in the other European countries. The Danish economy quickly returned to pre-crisis levels and even exceeded its pre-pandemic growth trend. Industry is in full expansion thanks to its positioning in high value-added market segments. Yet this dynamic momentum is threatened in the short term by surging inflation and job market pressures. The central bank has not yet begun the process of normalising monetary policy, although it plans to tighten monetary conditions gradually and progressively in the near future.
Once protected by the logic of “whatever the cost”, household purchasing power in Europe is now threatened by inflation. After the pandemic, public policies are being solicited once again to help reduce the loss of purchasing power, albeit without really succeeding. In 2022, the real disposable income of Eurozone households is expected to decline by about 2.5%. Consumption is still rising, but only because the household savings rate is declining, a trend that masks extremely diverse situations.
A lasting, unwarranted widening of sovereign spreads in the euro area would represent an excessive tightening of financial conditions and weigh on activity and demand. It would run into conflict with the objectives of the ECB in the context of its monetary policy normalisation. Spreads are influenced by various fundamental variables that are directly or indirectly related to debt sustainability issues. These tend to be slow-moving. Sovereign spreads also depend on the level of risk aversion, a variable that fluctuates a lot and which is influenced by global factors. This complicates the assessment of whether an observed spread widening is warranted or not.
In recent weeks, the prospect of several ECB rate hikes has caused an increase in Bund yields and, unexpectedly, several sovereign spreads. Beyond a certain point, higher spreads may become unwarranted. Under such circumstances, the ECB might consider stepping in to avoid that its policy transmission would be impacted. Determining whether sovereign spreads have increased too much is a real challenge. Historically, based on a 20-week moving window, the relationship (beta) between the BTP-Bund spread and Bund yields fluctuates a lot, so this calls for taking a longer perspective. Using data since 2013, the current spread is in line with an estimate based on current Bund yields. Clearly, other economic variables should be added to the analysis
The strength of the employment data reflects a degree of resilience in the Spanish economy in the face of the multiple shocks. According to the Spanish Employment Office (SEPE) an additional 33,366 active workers (+0.2% m/m) were registered in the social security system in May, the thirteenth consecutive month of growth. The government is expecting a further increase in June. Meanwhile, unemployment fell by 41,069 in May, to its lowest level since 2008. This decline was driven by a further drop in youth unemployment (25 and under), of 21,974.
Over the past few weeks, Central Europe has experienced a spike in Government bond yields. Five-year yields have surged respectively by 338 bp in Poland, 331 bp in Hungary, 350 bp in Romania and 216 bp in Czech Republic since January 2022 and are at present similar to 2008 levels. The trend is also the same for 10-year yields. The recent move can be explained to some extent by markets’ overreaction as regards to the relatively high exposure of Central European countries to Russia in terms of exports and energy supply. Moreover, their geographical proximity with Ukraine and Russia have contributed to markets’ perception of higher geopolitical risk. In the meantime, monetary policy tightening, a consequence of higher inflationary pressures (respectively +16
The negative prospects for the second quarter of 2022 are no longer a risk as suggested by business surveys, they are now taking concrete shape in Germany. After the very sharp worsening in the trade balance in March (a 4% decline in exports in volume terms and a symmetrical 4.1% increase in imports), it barely improved in April and remains at an extremely low level. According to the Kiel Institute’s real-time forecasts, exports probably fell in May (-1.7% m/m) but will see a slight recovery in June (0.6% m/m). Over the second quarter as a whole, Germany’s trade balance could shrink to its lowest level since Q2 2001.
The latest economic data from INSEE have provided detail on the timing and scale of the purchasing power shock to household consumption, with three figures standing out: the 1.8% q/q fall in the purchasing power of gross disposable income over the first quarter; the revised fall of 1.5% q/q in household consumption (from -1.3% in the initial estimate); and the downgrade in GDP growth to -0.2% q/q, from 0% in the initial estimate.
The deterioration of the business climate surveys continued in May, particularly in the manufacturing sector, even though industrial production held up until April. Output rose 1.6% m/m, to its highest level since December 2007. However, the manufacturing PMI dropped 2.6 points to 51.9 in May, its sixth consecutive monthly fall. The sharp fall in this indicator shows up clearly in our barometer.
Inflationary pressures in France continue to grow. The INSEE retail survey for May set a new record, with a balance of opinion on expected selling prices that reached 43, from 36 in April and a long-term average of -2. The housing development sector saw the biggest share of companies forecasting price increases. This echoes the increase in building materials prices and reflects strong household demand: on average over the last three months nearly 25% of households in the INSEE consumer survey have indicated that they intend to spend on housing development (against a long-term average of 21%). This said, the proportion is down on the figure of 26.7% reported for October 2021, suggesting that this demand has wilted somewhat in the face of strong inflation
At its 10 March meeting, the ECB paved the way for raising its key deposit rate, although the timing of the first rate increase remained uncertain at the time: the odds of a September move had declined compared to a few weeks ago and July was excluded, which left December. The wait-and-see approach still seemed appropriate given the increasing downside risks to growth, aggravated by the current inflationary shock, the war in Ukraine and China’s zero-Covid strategy. Yet economic data reported in the meantime, as well as the hawkish tone of several ECB members, seems to have accelerated the tempo. Concerning data, it is the combination of high inflation, a weak euro and relatively resilient growth that has moved forward the lift-off date.
Flows of new non-performing loans of Italian non-financial corporations (NFCs)[1] stood at 2.4% of outstanding amounts of performing loans in the fourth quarter of 2021, from 1.4% in the third. Starting from an historically low level, the significant rise in this ratio[2] is due to the flows of new non-performing loans, which increased by 67% in the fourth quarter of 2021, whilst outstanding amounts of performing loans remained relatively stable. The increase in the ratio of new non-performing loans was more marked in certain sectors (accommodation and food service activities, construction, electricity and gas supply, mining and quarrying)
Uncertainty matters greatly for households and businesses when taking decisions. It can have many causes: economic, economic policy, political or even geopolitical. Survey data of the European Commission show that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a huge jump in uncertainty, followed by a gradual decline. The war in Ukraine has triggered another, albeit more limited, increase. It will be important to monitor the development of uncertainty in the coming months at the level of consumers, businesses and individual countries. In the absence of a decline, one should expect that the negative impact shows up in spending and activity data.
The Italian economy began 2022 on a wrong footing, with a 0.2% q/q contraction in real GDP in the first quarter. The country has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine and by lasting disruption in world trade. These factors are having a particularly strong effect on economies with a large industrial base, as is the case in Italy. Inflation, which was 6.3% y/y in April (down from 6.8% y/y in March), has also had a significant negative effect on household confidence. According to the European Commission, consumer confidence increased very slightly in April (the balance of opinion rose 1.9 points to -22), but March had been the worst month since January 2014.
The sharp rise in energy prices since April 2021 has been the main driving force behind the current surge in Eurozone inflation. The outbreak of war in Ukraine on 24 February accentuated this trend, sending the energy component of the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) up 44.4% y/y in March 2022. Faced with this situation, the governments of the four main Eurozone economies under review in this article have acted to try to buffer the shock on economic players, and notably on household purchasing power, via direct subsidies, tax cuts, price regulations and measures to boost nominal incomes
The resilience of Manufacturing PMI through to April was surprising, given the extent to which constraints on supply and pressure on input prices have increased since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine on 24 February. This is particularly true in Germany where, despite an industrial sector with considerable exposure to the shock, Manufacturing PMI remained well above 50 (54.6 in April 2022). This suggests that activity in the sector remained comfortably in the expansion zone, whereas industrial production contracted by 4.4% between January and March 2022. This conflicting message is due mainly to a methodological bias: the inclusion of delivery lags in the aggregate PMI index. This bias may be an issue when the PMI is used as a nowcast for industrial production or GDP growth
At first glance, higher inflation seems like good news for governments. After all, inflation erodes the real value of debt and lowers the public debt/GDP ratio through a higher nominal GDP. However, the impact of inflation on public finances depends on whether higher inflation was anticipated by financial markets and on its expected persistence. Both factors would influence the borrowing cost and hence the dynamics of the debt ratio through the difference between this cost and nominal GDP growth. Public finances should benefit from having a central bank that is credible in its ability to keep inflation expectations well anchored and is not afraid of tightening policy when inflation has moved well above target
Although Germany returned to positive economic growth in the first quarter of 2022 – with GDP up 0.2 % q/q according to the initial estimate published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) – March figures already showed the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and strict lockdowns in several regions of China. Industrial production, which accounts for 24 % of German GDP, fell sharply in March (by 4.6 % m/m) after almost zero growth in February. Industrial production remains well below its pre-Covid level: in Q1 2022, it was 5.2 % lower than in Q4 2019. Worse, the rapid decline in March created a sharply negative growth overhang for the second quarter (-3 %).
