The ongoing political instability in Italy and the recent developments with regards to the Cyprus bail-out/ in agreement have destabilized the markets and increased the economic uncertainty in Europe once again. In March the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) decreased in both the Euro area and the European Union (EU), putting on hold the recovery that had started in November of last year. Sentiment declined by 1.1 points in the Euro area (to 90.0) and by 0.6 points in the EU (to 91.4). The European economy contracted in the final quarter of last year. GDP fell by 0.6% in the Euro area and by 0.5% in the EU27 on a quarterly basis. As the negative effects of the debt crisis have spread from the European periphery to the core, the three largest economies of Europe, Germany, UK and France experienced negative growth.
Source : Savills