French Deficit Widens; Switzerland Growth Outlook Unchanged

Arthi Gupta
14 Jun, 2011
New York City

The OECD leading indicator remained unchanged in April. French current account deficit widened in April and Spanish inflation eased in May. Romanian jobless rate increased to 7.3% in 2010.

[R]1:00 PM Frankfurt – The OECD leading indicator remained unchanged in April. French current account deficit widened in April and Spanish inflation eased in May. Romanian jobless rate increased to 7.3% in 2010.[/R]

OECD Leading Indicator Remains Flat

The composite indicator of leading indexes for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development area was at 103 in April, unchanged from March.

The pace of expansion in Germany and the United Kingdom remained stable in April but there was a slump in the pace of activity in France and Italy.

French Deficit Widens

The French current account deficit widened to €4.8 billion in April, from €4.1 billion in March, the Bank of France said today.

The goods trade showed a shortfall of €7.3 billion in April compared to €6.3 billion deficit in the March. The trade in services resulted in a surplus of €1.3 billion in April, larger than the €1 billion surplus in March.

Czech Current Account Shows Deficit

The Czech Republic current account deficit was CZK 6.74 billion during April versus a surplus of CZK 1.50 billion in March, data from the central bank showed. The April shortfall was due to deficits on the income balance and the balance of current transfers, the Czech National Bank said.

Income balance was a negative CZK 18.31 billion in April compared to CZK 14.11 billion in March. Current transfers showed a deficit of CZK12.5 million in April compared to CZK 1.9 billion in March.

Switzerland’ Outlook Unchanged

Switzerland''s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs on Tuesday forecast gross domestic product to grow 2.1% this year, unchanged from its previous estimate. However, it downwardly revised 2012 growth estimate to 1.5% from 1.9%.

Spanish Inflation Eases

Inflation, in Spain, as measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices eased to 3.4% in May from 3.5% in April, latest data from the statistics office INE showed. On a monthly basis, HICP fell 0.1% in May.

The consumer price index climbed 3.5% annually in May, slower than the 3.8% rise in April.

Swedish Inflation Static

Sweden''s consumer price index increased 3.3% annually in May, unchanged from the growth recorded in April, data from Statistics Sweden showed.

On a monthly-basis, consumer prices grew 0.2% in May as against the 0.4% rise in April.

Bulgarian Inflation Climbs

Bulgaria''s consumer price index increased 4.8% on an annual basis in May, after growing 4.6% in April, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed on Tuesday.

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages climbed 9.5%, and clothing and footwear prices rose 2.1% annually in May.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained unchanged in May, after increasing 0.2% in April.

Romanian Jobless Rate Up

Unemployment in Romania increased from last year in 2010, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed.

The jobless rate increased to 7.3% in 2010 and the number of jobless persons totalled 725,000 during the year.

Unemployment among youth, aged between 15 and 24, was 22.1% during the year. The long-term unemployment rate, which refers to people unemployed for one year or more, was 2.5% in 2010.

Greek Import Price Index Advances

The import price index for Greece rose 8% annually in April, as against the 8.6% rise in March, according to data released by the Hellenic Statistics Authority today. In April 2010, import prices grew 10.1% annually.

On a monthly basis, import prices grew 0.8% in April, after growing 2.4% in March.