BERLIN, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Economic sentiment in Germany improved significantly, as the ZEW index climbed 21.8 points month-on-month to 51.7 points in January, according to the monthly expert survey published by the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) on Tuesday.
"The economic outlook has improved considerably with the start of the new year," said ZEW president Achim Wambach. "The majority of financial market experts assume that economic growth will pick up in the coming six months."
However, the assessment of the current economic situation in Germany worsened again as the corresponding indicator dropped slightly to minus 10.2 points, according to the survey among 178 financial market experts.
Sentiment regarding the economic development of the eurozone increased by 22.6 points to 49.4 points in January, while the situation indicator fell to minus 6.2 points, down 3.9 points month-on-month, according to ZEW.
Inflation expectations for the eurozone continued to decline and the indicator stood at minus 38.7 points, according to ZEW. Fifty-eight percent of the experts expect the inflation rate to decline in the next six months. ■
