World News for Students of English

05-05-2025 07:00

The eurozone economy grew slightly faster than expected at the beginning of the year, giving a positive signal after a period of weak growth.

For several years, many businesses avoided investing and households saved money due to high inflation. This year was seen as important for a slow recovery, but the situation changed when US President Donald Trump started a trade war. Experts warned this could cause lasting damage to the world economy, even if the conflict ends.

In the first quarter, the euro zone’s economy grew by 0.4%. This number was better than predicted but was helped mostly by strong growth in Ireland. Ireland grew by 3.2% because many large international companies are based there for tax reasons. Other countries like Germany, France, and Italy had much slower growth.

Since then, the outlook has become worse. Big companies such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz warned that new tariffs might reduce profits, lower sales, and stop new investment. This could hurt future economic growth.

Difficult words: avoid (to stay away from something or from doing something), inflation (a rise in prices over time).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.