Will the eurozone reap what it has sown? by Simon Tilford
The slowdown in emerging markets leaves the eurozone even more reliant on exports to the US and UK to compensate for its feeble domestic economy. The eurozone is banking on a weak euro and strong global growth to boost exports and inflation and offset the weakness of domestic demand. How likely is this? China might yet avoid a recession, but there is no doubt that it is set for a period of much slower growth. At the same time, pretty much every emerging market is weakening, partly because of their dependence on China, and partly because of sluggish productivity growth. The US Federal Reserve’s decision not to increase official interest rates is welcome: a rise would have prompted further capital outflows from emerging markets. But there is no doubt that the global economy is labouring, and that this poses a threat to the eurozone’s anaemic recovery. The eurozone ran a trade surplus of €125 billion over the first six months of 2015. Over the same period of 2011, it had a deficit of €17 billion. Over the last four years, exports have risen 18 per cent; imports just 2 per cent. The data for net exports (exports minus imports), which measures the impact of foreign trade on economic growth, is striking. Between the first half of 2011 and the first half of 2015, the eurozone economy expanded by 1 per cent. Without rising net exports, it would have shrunk by 1.3 per cent. In
short, without global demand, there would have been no eurozone recovery at all. The eurozone’s rising surplus is down to trade with developed countries, especially Englishspeaking ones, and commodity producers, not China or other emerging markets. Just 7 per cent of the increase in eurozone exports over the last four years was to China, whereas nearly half of the increase was with the US, the UK and Canada. Moreover, these countries accounted for over 40 per cent of the rise in the eurozone’s net exports (as imports from these countries barely rose). Most of the rest of the increase in eurozone net exports was with commodity producers, as falling oil and other raw material prices reduced the value of eurozone imports from these countries. By contrast, net exports to China fell over this period, as the value of eurozone exports to China rose by less than the value of imports from China. The eurozone will certainly be hit by the slowdown in China and elsewhere. Emerging markets buy over a quarter of eurozone exports, and these are set to come under pressure, while the competitiveness of emerging market manufactured goods will increase as the value