Germany’s economy trailed behind its European peers for the first time in more than a decade last month but the eurozone continued to grow.
The eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI), covering manufacturing and services, came in at a slightly better than forecast 55.7 last month, down from 56.3 in June.
It was the 49th consecutive month of growth for the single currency bloc, driven by manufacturing output, which outpaced service sector activity.
Germany’s index of 54.7 marked a ten-month low and lagged behind France, Italy and Spain for the first time in 12 years.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the PMI index, said: “The surveys indicated a slight cooling in the pace of growth in July, but this is still an encouragingly upbeat picture of business conditions.”
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It put the eurozone economy on course for a “respectable” 0.6 per cent quarterly increase in GDP, he added.
Mr Williamson said: “The overall slowing in the rate of expansion will add a note of caution to European Central Bank policymaking.”
Job creation accelerated in Germany and Italy but slowed in France, Spain and Ireland. Ben May, at Oxford Economics, said that compared with the UK, the eurozone showed a “relatively sustained period of outperformance”.