LONDON (AP) – Further evidence emerged Monday that the economic recovery across the 18-country eurozone is accelerating and, perhaps more importantly, spreading to the bloc’s debt-laden laggards.
Financial information company Markit, which publishes a closely watched monthly survey of economic conditions across the region, even suggested that the economic recovery is running at a near three-year high. It is now forecasting quarterly economic growth of 0.5 percent, which equates to an annualized increase of a little more than 2 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2013, the eurozone grew by a quarterly 0.3 percent.
The optimistic forecast will help ease worries that the recovery from recession isn’t gaining traction. The eurozone emerged from its longest-ever recession last spring.
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