Eurozone confidence at record high[fr][de] 

Strong growth for the eurozone in December 2006, slightly up from October 2006, led the business climate indicator (BCI) to reach a record high of 1.60, up from 1.55 in November. This indicates "sustained production growth in the fourth quarter of 2006", according to the Commission. However, it also added that industry managers' production expectations in December had become less optimistic for the months ahead. 

At the same time, the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) remained stable in December, but well above its long-term average, the Commission said. Reflecting an overall increase in economic growth, Eurostat figures also showed retail trade up by 1.3% in November 2006 compared with November 2005 in the eurozone and by 2.3 in the EU-25.

Meanwhile, unemployment in countries using the euro fell to 7.6% in November 2006, the lowest level recorded since October 1998, when records for the area began. This is a slight drop from 7.7% in October 2006.

The EU-25 rate as a whole also dropped slightly to 7.7% in November, down from 7.8% in October. However this figure is still ahead of the likes of the US and Japan where unemployment stands at 4.5% and 4.0% respectively.

The lowest rates were in Denmark (3.3% in October), the Netherlands (3.8%), Ireland (4.2%), Estonia (4.5%) and Austria (4.6%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (13.6%), Slovakia (12.3%), Greece (8.7% in the third quarter of 2006), France (8.6%) and Spain (8.4%).

On January 1st the eurozone expanded to 13, with Slovenia's adoption of the single currency.