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

Such a sharp increase in the forecast is explained by three key factors: the stability of the industrial sector, the continuing fall in natural gas prices and the earlier-than-expected lifting of anti-commodity restrictions in China.

Goldman experts estimate that the economies of Germany and Italy will continue to teeter on the brink of recession due to their earlier heavy reliance on Russian gas imports. Meanwhile, in France and Spain, where sources of fuel supplies 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% by May versus the current 2%, bank analysts predict.

Investors meanwhile demonstrate a positive attitude to European assets. Thus, since the beginning of the year, the index fund Vanguard FTSE Europe, specializing in European stocks, rose by 6%, while the U.S. index S & P 500 added 1%. The euro has jumped 12% against the dollar since the September lows, when the European currency was cheaper than the U.S. currency.