The Italian economy proved resilient in 2024 in an already unpromising international environment, with better-than-expected growth of 0.7%. But in early 2025 the economic outlook is sending out more mixed signals. Consumer and business confidence is weakening and uncertainties are mounting, with persistent geopolitical tensions and threats of tariff hikes from the United States. All of which puts the...

We expect GDP growth of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2025 after +0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024. But the recently released monthly GDP data for February suggest upside risks to our forecast. Growth in the first quarter could be close to 0.6% in quarterly variation.

Activity is expected to slow down in the second quarter. We expect growth of around 0.2% quarter-on-quarter due to...

The Spanish economy began 2025 with greater momentum than its European partners. In 2024, GDP grew by 3.2%, increasing by 0.8% in Q4, supported by consumption and investment. The fundamentals are solid: a current account surplus for the 13th year, private debt limited to 125.1% of GDP (vs. 153.5% in the eurozone) and public debt down to 101.8%. The net international investment position also improved...

A transatlantic rift has opened. It had been incorporated into our forecast last December in the form of a downward revision to growth to take account of the negative impact of the rise in tariffs on steel and aluminium to 25%, as well as an alignment of the average US tariff with that of the EU. into a downward revision to growth of 0.2 percentage points (pp) as a direct result of lower exports and a...

Stupefaction was the reaction to Donald Trump's “Liberation Day” tariff announcements. Firstly, because the tariffs – which Trump claims are sucking the life out of the US economy – are perplexing when compared with those applied. Secondly, because the tariffs announced (including the strangely calculated reciprocal tariffs) exceed what had been anticipated and are likely to be further tightened. Finally...

D. Trump's return to the White House and his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, suspended until March, could jeopardise the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), a trade agreement signed in 2018 that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020. NAFTA, the first free trade agreement between developed and emerging countries, came into force in 1994, creating the world's...

China has released fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 growth figures and announced that its 5% target has been met. The consensus of economists, who were not expecting such a performance, found these numbers – even thought they were positive – "surprising".

While China achieving its growth target is nothing new, the slowdown in a number of sectors (e.g. real estate and consumer goods) and the deflationary...

Economic activity in France quickened in Q3 2024, with quarterly growth coming in at 0.4%, compared with 0.2% in Q1 and Q2. This uptick is explained by the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, estimated to have added 0.2 percentage points to Q3 growth. At the end of Q3, carry-over growth for 2024 was 1.1%. 

The economy is not expected to have grown at all in Q4 2024 due to the boost from the Paris...

The downward revision of our forecasts for the German economy is in line with the preliminary estimate of a 0.2% contraction in GDP in 2024. Activity in the first three quarters of 2024 was supported in particular by public consumption, despite limited budgetary resources. Household consumption, on the other hand, weighed on growth. Households switched to savings because of low consumer confidence in a...

2025 is expected to be the third consecutive year of weak growth since the strong post-Covid recovery. Although the effects of the inflationary shock are starting to dissipate, with inflation under control, a more expansionary monetary policy and an upturn in household consumption, headwinds are likely to continue to penalise activity, with GDP expected to rise by only 0.6% after 0.5% in 2024. With...