{"id":48954,"date":"2026-05-21T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/48954\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:47:10","slug":"eurozone-business-activity-shrinks-further-in-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/48954\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurozone business activity shrinks further in May"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"912\" height=\"570\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"html-img h-auto w-full\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0bb4fb3d-eurozone-24102025.webp\"\/>Inflation leapt to 3% in April, significantly higher than the European Central Bank\u2019s 2% target. (EPA Images pic)<br \/>\nBRUSSELS: Business activity in the eurozone contracted further in May, weighed down by weak demand caused by the Middle East war, a key survey showed Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">The eurozone purchasing managers\u2019 index (PMI) published by S&amp;P Global, an important gauge of the economy\u2019s overall health, registered a reading of 47.5 \u2013 a 31-month low \u2013 after 48.8 in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">A reading above 50 indicates growth while a figure below 50 signals contraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">There were \u201csharper falls in output, new orders and employment were recorded, while business confidence slipped lower\u201d, according to the survey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cMay\u2019s flash PMI survey data show the eurozone economy taking an increasingly severe toll from the war in the Middle East,\u201d S&amp;P chief business economist Chris Williamson said in a note.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cThe rise in the survey\u2019s price gauges already hints at inflation running close to 4% in the coming months, which, combined with the growing signs of the region slipping into an economic downturn, creates a deepening dilemma for policymakers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Inflation leapt to 3% in April, significantly higher than the European Central Bank\u2019s 2% target.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Both Germany and France \u2013 the 21-country single currency area\u2019s two biggest economies \u2013 posted contractions in business activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">France recorded its biggest drop in 5.5 years while Germany registered a contraction in May, albeit at a slower pace than in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">The European Commission will later Thursday publish its latest forecasts for economic growth and inflation in both the European Union as a whole and the eurozone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inflation leapt to 3% in April, significantly higher than the European Central Bank\u2019s 2% target. (EPA Images pic)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2480],"tags":[15148,3413,5435,29235,2487,2486,2485,7585,15143,29792,20479,13471,1606],"class_list":["post-48954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-euro-zone","tag-business-activity","tag-ecb-policy","tag-economic-outlook","tag-economic-slowdown","tag-euro-area","tag-euro-zone","tag-eurozone","tag-eurozone-economy","tag-eurozone-pmi","tag-france-economy","tag-germany-economy","tag-inflation-concerns","tag-middle-east-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}