The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the global economy. However, the process of economic recovery depends on a particular country. While some countries continue to struggle with the negative consequences of coronavirus, the world's leading economies are successfully getting back from the recession. Europe suffered greatly from Covid-19, but was one of the leaders to achieve strong economic growth. According to the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat), in the second quarter of 2021 the eurozone economy began to recover, expanding its growth by 2%. Among the EU countries, Austria and Latvia recorded the highest results, Eurostat reports. Strong economic performance is achieved in many areas. For example, business activity growth hit 59.2 at the end of June and beat a 15-year record. Many EU countries began to lift coronavirus restrictions on business after the number of vaccinated people has increased and are ready to welcome back tourists. These measures accelerated economic recovery. In the last quarter of 2020, the eurozone GDP decreased by 0.6% and by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2021. The GDP surged by 13.7% compared with the second quarter of 2020. The European Central Bank predicts that GDP will rise by 4.6% for the year. It is a good reason for the ECB to consider a policy change. Robert Holzmann, governor of the Austrian Central Bank, has already asked his senior colleagues to be flexible in monetary policy. He added that it was essential to fight inflation after the European regulator had said it wanted to keep its key rate low.
