Economic growth in the eurozone came in at just 0.1 per cent for the third quarter of this year. This was below expectations and was worse than the 0.3 per cent expansion the euro currency bloc achieved in the second quarter.

Separately, euro area industrial production in September fell more than economists were expecting, led by Germany, as the region’s economic recovery struggled to gain momentum.

According to the EU’s statistics office, factory production in the 17-nation currency bloc fell 0.5 per cent from August, exceeding forecast in a Bloomberg survey that predicted a drop of 0.3 per cent. From September last year, industrial production has increased 1.1 per cent.

In the UK, the jobless rate as measured by International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards fell to 7.6 per cent from 7.7 per cent in the three months through August. This is the lowest rate since 2009. This is consistent with a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.

In the meantime, in its quarterly inflation report, the Bank of England (BOE) brought forward its expectations for unemployment to fall to seven per cent, at which an interest rate hike will be considered. The BOE now says that the jobless rate could fall to seven per cent by the second half of 2014 compared with a previous guidance of mid-2016. The central bank also upgraded its outlook for the UK economy, saying 2014 growth should come in around 2.8 per cent.

Finally, in the US, Janet Yellen, who is nominated to be the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), said the economy and the labour market are performing “far short of their potential”, and improvement must be seen before the central bank begins reducing its extremely loose monetary policy.

The remarks show that Yellen is fully behind the Fed’s strategy of underpinning the world’s largest economy and reducing unemployment, more than four years after the economy began to recover from the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression.

This article was compiled by Bank of Valletta for general information purposes only.

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