EC: Summary of the Autumn Economic Forecast
Overview:
The European Commission (EC) has released its Autumn Economic Forecast. This sees little change in the economic growth outlook compared to the September Interim Report. The EC notes that the recovery remains very uneven across countries but is starting to become more self-sustaining in the sense that the private sector is showing signs of picking up. The fiscal outlook for 2011 is much better than was foreseen in the Spring Forecast due, in part, to fiscal consolidation measures announced in the meantime. This, however, will be insufficient to stop public debt to GDP ratios deteriorating further. If market sentiment remains poor governments will have to consider implementing structural reforms to boost growth and reduce reliance on market financing where that is possible.