Analysts at U.S. bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) have improved the Eurozone’s GDP forecast for 2023 and now expect GDP growth for the currency bloc instead of the previously expected contraction. Eurozone GDP will grow by 0.6% in 2023. MarketWatch quoted the bank’s economists, led by Sven Jari Sten, as saying. The previous forecast called for a decline of 0.1%.

Such a sharp rise in the GDP forecast for Europe is explained by three key factors: the resilience of the industrial sector; the continued fall in natural gas prices and the earlier-than-expected lifting of anti-coveting restrictions in China. The DAX index could also rise on the back of such dynamics.

Goldman experts estimate that the German and Italian economies will continue to teeter on the brink of a recession due to their former heavy reliance on Russian gas imports. Meanwhile, in France and Spain, where fuel sources are better diversified, economic growth will be more pronounced.

The European Central Bank, meanwhile, will continue to raise its key interest rate, which will reach 3.25 percent by May versus the current 2 percent, bank analysts forecast.

Investors, meanwhile, are showing a positive attitude toward European assets. For example, since the beginning of the year, index fund Vanguard FTSE Europe, which specializes in European equities, rose 6%, while the U.S. index S & P 500 added 1%. The euro has jumped 12% from its September lows, when the European currency was cheaper than the U.S. currency.

Earlier we reported on the pessimism around the British pound sterling.