The second quarter is expected to increase by 0.6%
France is Germany's largest trading partner after China, while the French far-right candidate, Eurosceptic Marlene Le Pen, lost the election and the centrist Macron was elected, which gave a shot in the arm to the economic confidence of the whole euro zone.
According to the business climate index released by Ifo Economic Agency in Germany, the index was revised upwards to 1 13 in April, and then further rose to 1 14.6 in May, setting a record high of 199 1. This statistic is available every month, and as many as 7,000 companies are surveyed. Analysts predict that the business climate index in May will be 1 13. 1.
Clemens Fuest, director of Ifo, said that German economic activity is still very strong. He added that the rising Ifo index, together with the performance of other major economic data, predicted that the German economy would grow by 0.6% in the second quarter. Statistics also show that the assessment of the current situation and the expected situation in the next six months have improved considerably. Ifo economist Klaus Vohrah Rabe pointed out that this is because Macron was elected French president; He also pointed out that this good news brought a "smooth wind", reflecting that the economic situation in the EU is less stressful than a year ago.
In addition, Klaus Wohlrabe also pointed out that neither the road before Britain withdrew from the EU negotiations nor the performance of US President Trump had a substantial impact on the German economy.
Carsten Else, an economist at ING Bank, said that the strong data released yesterday further indicated that not only the German economy, but also the whole euro zone economy may perform better than expected this year. As the political crisis in Europe gradually subsided, the economy once again became the focus of market attention.
France's service industry is booming, with PMI reaching a six-year high.
In addition, after Macron was elected, the French economy recovered its momentum. The French Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 56.6 in April to 57.6 in May, the highest level in six years, mainly driven by the recovery of service industry activities. However, manufacturing activity in the country has slowed down.
If we take apart the Ifo data, the main driving force of France's economic growth is the improvement of the service industry, the wholesale industry and the construction industry have also increased, but the retail environment has deteriorated.