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Brussels raises the growth forecast for the Eurozone thanks to a boost from the ECB

The European Commission has upped its growth forecasts for the Eurozone and the entire EU after noting the positive effects of the European Central Bank (ECB) debt purchase programme; cheaper oil prices, and the depreciation of the euro. However, this economic improvement will not be uniform across all the member states. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 19 euro members will be up this year by 1.5%, two tenths higher than estimated in February by the EU executive. For the 28 countries in the European Union, the Commission also revised forecasts upwards by one decimal point to 1.8%

The imminent arrival of QE brings euro-dollar parity closer

The euro has depreciated relative to the US dollar to its lowest level in almost a decade. In the meantime, time is running out for the European Central Bank (ECB) to implement a massive purchase of sovereign bonds aimed at quelling the threat of deflation. This much-anticipated operation, called Quantitative Easing (QE), will most likely be officially announced by ECB president Mario Draghi at the upcoming meeting on 22 January. The European currency has plummeted this year under the 1.1747 dollar threshold, the exchange rate at which it was first introduced in 11 European countries on 1 January 1999. The euro continues to weaken after having lost 12% of its value relative to the US dollar in 2014, the sharpest annual fall since 2005.