The third quarter UK GDP figures were released last week and at 0.7% some might argue that this represents an achievement given that this follows an increase of 0.9% in the previous quarter. However many economic commentators have suggested that this level of GDP growth may be a sign the economy is weakening.
The problems in the Eurozone continue and the markets suggest that what is needed to prevent another recession is a thorough Quantitative Easing (QE) programme, as used by the UK and US. This is in stark contrast to the US Federal Reserve Bank, which is ending its QE programme and is predicted to increase rates next year.
If the ECB does seek to introduce a QE programme, it would not be without its problems. There are many technical difficulties of trying to operate such a strategy across the 18 member states and Germany are already strongly opposed to such a move, which means that any scheme that is used is likely to have limited effectiveness. This makes the medium term outlook for the Eurozone look quite limited.
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