StatsGuru: Factors that might have worried the ECB

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to pump money into the continent's capital market through its own quantitative easing (QE). What drove it to this?

As Table 1 shows, gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the euro zone is yet to recover. To add to it, industrial growth is doing particularly badly, as shown in Table 2, especially in the big European factory-countries of Italy and France.

1: ECONOMY IS YET TO RECOVER |Create infographics

2: THERE’S GLOOM ON INDUSTRIAL FRONT, TOO  |Create infographics

Naturally, unemployment is correspondingly high across the euro zone, as Table 3 shows. And only Germany, as shown in Table 4, seems to be exporting enough.

3: JOBLESSNESS CONTINUES TO BE AN ISSUE  |Create infographics

4: EXPORTS NEED TO PICK UP |Create infographics

The governments themselves are finding it difficult to spend, as Table 5 reveals - many have high fiscal deficits as a percentage of GDP. Italy's debt as a percentage of GDP is also a worrying signal, as seen in Table 6.

5: SPENDING MUST INCREASE |Create infographics

6: DEBT REMAINS HIGH AS WELL |Create infographics

For the ECB, the question of continent-wide deflation - as seen in Table 7 - must have been a contributory factor in its decision.

7: DEFLATION IS ALSO A WORRY FOR SOME |Create infographics

Bond yields are already surprisingly low, as revealed in Table 8.

8: BOND YIELDS LOW, EXCEPT IN GREECE  |Create infographics

Finally, Table 9 shows the dollar's performance against European currencies.

9: CURRENCIES HAVE BEEN WEAKENING, TOO  |Create infographics

Statsguru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard will guide you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines.

Compiled by BS Research Buereau 

Graphics by Anisha Dutta