Euro Area Deficit Contracts; Swiss Exports Increase 12.3%

Arthi Gupta
26 Apr, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone government deficit contracted in 2010. Swiss trade surplus increased in the first quarter. Sweden jobless rate fell in March. Czech economic sentiment weakened in March.

[R]1:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone government deficit contracted in 2010. Swiss trade surplus increased in the first quarter. Sweden jobless rate fell in March. Czech economic sentiment weakened in March.[/R]

Euro Area Government Deficit Shrinks

The government deficit of the euro area fell to 6% of gross domestic product in 2010 from 6.3% in 2009, data from the Eurostat showed today.

In the euro area, the government debt to GDP ratio increased to 85.1% at the end of 2010 from 79.3% at the end of 2009.

The EU27 government deficit declined to 6.4% of GDP in 2010 from 6.8% in 2009. The government debt to GDP ratio rose to 80% at the end of 2010 from 74.4% at the end of 2009.

Poland''s General Government Deficit Widens

Poland''s general government deficit amounted to 7.9% of gross domestic product in 2010, bigger than 7.3% in 2009, data from the Central Statistics Office showed.

Swiss Trade Surplus, Watch Exports Increase

Switzerland''s trade surplus increased to Sfr5.45 billion in the first quarter compared to the trade surplus of Sfr5.29 billion recorded in the same period of previous year, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Tuesday.

Exports grew by a real 12.3% annually in the first quarter, following a 7.3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2010. Imports increased 6.5% annually in the first quarter as against the 10% expansion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Separately, the UBS bank said that its consumption indicator for Switzerland rose 0.21 points from the previous month to 1.66 points in March, driven by new car registrations.

New car registrations climbed 34.3% from the previous month with the total number being the highest for the month of March since 2001.

In another report, Swiss watch exports increased 11.1% on a yearly basis in March to Sfr1.4 billion, the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry FH said.

Watch exports to Hong Kong recorded a 21.6% increase in March, while exports to China grew 63.5%. However, demand from the U.S. declined 10.2% annually.

Sweden Jobless Rate Drops

Sweden''s unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points in March from the previous year to 8.1%, data from Statistics Sweden showed.

The number of unemployed persons decreased 36,000 on a yearly basis to 404,000. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployed persons totaled 386,000, resulting in an unemployment rate of 7.7%.

Czech Economic Sentiment Weakens

The seasonally-adjusted composite confidence indicator for the Czech Republic declined to 5.9 in March from 7.1 in February, falling for the fourth straight month, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office today.

The business confidence index dropped to 11.9 in March from 13.6 in February and the industrial confidence also deteriorated during the month, with the corresponding index falling to 7.7 from 9.3 in February.

Dutch Producer Confidence Declines

Producer confidence in the Netherlands declined in April, owing to a major deterioration in the assessment of the stocks of finished products, according to a survey data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics today.

The sentiment index declined to 4.6 in April from 5.8 in March, which was the highest reading in three years.