Euro Area Zew Economic Sentiment Index

Last Release

Jan 31, 2025

Actual

Units In

N/A

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Feb 18, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 21 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
89.9 Jan 2000	-63.7 Jul 2008	21.65	1999-2025	Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

In the Euro Area, the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index measures the level of optimism that analysts have about the expected economic developments over the next 6 months. The survey covers up to 350 financial and economic analysts. The index is constructed as the difference between the percentage share of analysts that are optimistic and the percentage of analysts that are pessimistic about the development of the economy. Therefore, the ZEW indicator measures the confidence on a scale of -100 (all analysts expect the economy to deteriorate) up to 100 (all analysts expect it to improve). A 0 value indicates neutrality.

Latest Updates

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Euro Area rose by 1 point from the prior month to 18 in January 2025, beating analysts’ expectations of a slight drop to 16.9. Nevertheless, concerns and uncertainty remain, stemming from Germany’s sluggish GDP growth, rising inflationary pressures, and political instability. These issues are compounded by difficulties in forming a coalition government in Germany and growing unease about the economic policies of the Trump administration. In January, about 60% of the surveyed analysts expected no changes in economic activity, 29% saw an improvement and 11% anticipated a deterioration. In the meantime, the indicator of the current economic situation increased by 1.2 points to -53.8 and inflation expectations surged by 9.1 points to -14.8.