The eurozone economy is likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year in quarterly terms, though the recovery would be uneven across countries and sectors, eurozone finance ministers said on Monday.

The finance ministers, known as the eurogroup, remained upbeat about economic growth prospects despite the Omicron coronavirus variant, and they agreed to continue the moderately supportive fiscal policy next year.

The Omicron variant has increased concern among some economists that more lockdowns are inevitable, which could lower growth after this year’s roller-coaster ride. “The euro area economy is recovering from the recession faster than expected,” the ministers said in a statement, citing the latest European Commission forecasts for GDP growth of five per cent in 2021 and 4.3 per cent in 2022.

German industrial production increased by 2.8 per cent month-on-month in October, following the 0.5 per cent month-on-month fall seen in September. It was the third monthly increase seen this year. Economists had forecast production to grow by 0.8 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, industrial production was still down by 0.6 per cent, from -0.4 per cent in September. The increase in industrial production was driven by all sectors. Excluding energy and construction, industrial production was up by 3.2 per cent in October.

EU finance ministers agreed to continue the moderately supportive fiscal policy next year.- Bank of Valletta

The strong industrial data offers a glimmer of hope, but supply chain shortcomings have not been resolved, implying that the October industrial data may rather be a short-lived rebound than a sustainable turning point.

Consumer prices in China were up by 2.3 per cent year-on-year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was just shy of expectations for a gain of 2.5 per cent and up from 1.5 per cent in October.

From a month-on-month perspective, the consumer price index, or CPI, rose by 0.4 per cent in November, 0.3 percentage point lower than last month, due to the combined effects of seasonal factors, rising costs and the spreading the COVID pandemic.

The bureau also said that producer prices jumped by 12.9 per cent year-on-year, topping forecasts for 12.4 per cent and down from 13.5 per cent a month earlier.

This report was compiled by Bank of Valletta for general information purposes only.