German ZEW Posts Fourth Consecutive Rise in March

16 March 2021

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The ZEW German economic sentiment indicator continued its upward trend in March with a rise of 5.4 points to 76.6, economic research institute ZEW said on Tuesday.

The improvement was the fourth consecutive monthly increase and the first time the indicator has risen that many times in a row in more than a year. Since its recent low of 39 points in November, the index has recovered 37.6 points.

The survey also showed a more positive assessment of the current situation, as the corresponding indicator rose 6.2 points to -61, ZEW said.

For the euro area as a whole, financial market experts surveyed expressed more optimism, with that index up 4.4 points to 74. Similarly, the indicator for the current economic situation in the euro area was up 4.8 points to -69.8.

‘Experts expect a broad-based recovery of the German economy. They anticipate that at least 70% of the German population will be offered a vaccine against Covid-19 by autumn’, said ZEW President Achim Wambach in a press release. ‘However, a large majority also expects inflation to continue to grow, as well as higher long-term interest rates.’

Eurozone inflation expectations captured by the survey were up 8.8 points to 80.6.