The European economy received a triple boost yesterday with figures showing rising manufacturing orders and exports in Germany - the euro zone's biggest economy - and a fall in unemployment in the region as whole.
Taken together, the data indicate that the euro zone is beginning to pull strongly out of the economic slowdown triggered last year by the crises in Asia, Russia and Latin America.
The jobless rate in the 11-nation region dropped in July for the first time in four months, while Germany registered a sharp increase in exports to the US and Japan in the second quarter of this year.
German manufacturing orders, boosted by strong foreign demand, were also higher than expected in July, rising by 1.2 per cent compared with June. The June figure was revised upwards to show a 2 per cent increase, rather than the previously estimated 1.7 per cent.
The July shift was mainly attributable to a 3.3 per cent increase in foreign orders, showing rising demand for German exports, the economy's main motor. Seasonally adjusted unemployment in the euro zone fell in July to 10.2 per cent of the workforce, compared with 10.3 per cent in June and 10.9 per cent in July 1998, said Eurostat, the European Union's statistical agency.
Unemployment in the 15nat ion Union as a whole fell to 9.3 per cent in July from 9.4 per cent in June and 10 per cent in July 1998, Eurostat said.
Spain had the EU's highest jobless rate at 15.9 per cent, but the agency noted the Spanish level had fallen from 16.1 per cent in June and 18.8 per cent in July 1998.
