(Bloomberg) -- Just when Italy again became a source for international concern as the only euro economy in recession, its industry bounced back so much as to make it the region likely leader.
The unexpectedly positive performance of the nation’s manufacturers in January and February may mean Italy is the top contributor to a rise in the bloc’s industrial-output during the first quarter of 2019. That’s according to Bloomberg calculations based on the data for the first two months for the 19 member nations published by Eurostat on Friday and their carry over into the whole quarter.
Data from the European Union statistics office excludes contributions from construction, which are included in the national German measure.
Italy’s production rebound bodes well for an exit from the recession it entered after its gross domestic product shrank for two straight quarters at the end of last year.
One of the nation’s iconic desserts is called Tiramisu, Italian for ‘pick me up.’ The euro region’s third biggest economy still needs lots of that in order to recoup the ground lost over the last decade.
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Despite the recent recovery, Italy’s industrial output remains some 17 percent below its pre-crisis peak of 2007 while Germany’s is 7 percent above that.
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