The wrath of the winters

As if economic pressures weren enough for the eurozone, nature decided to play catch up for its share of battering up the EU countries too.
Much of Europe has been affected severely by harsh winter spells, with sub-zero temperatures and snow as deep as a foot. "You have to look back to December 1981 to find similar snow depths," a UK Met Office forecaster, Helen Chivers, told MSNBC. "If the second half of the month is as cold as the first, this will be the coldest December on record since 1910", said Helen.
The economic impact of the already-struggling European economies can be a cause for concern, as the spell of winter comes right when many prepare for the holiday season. According to the BBC, early estimates place the total loss from the previous winters at around £700 million in Britain alone.
The cold spell is likely to affect retail sales and consumer spending, the latter making up around 65 percent of GDP in the UK and nearly 60 percent in Germany.
With shoppers preferring to stay indoors due to the cold weather outside, and retailers choosing to keep stores and shopping malls closed for a few days due to the extreme spells of winter, it is not hard to imagine why consumption is likely to decline.
According to the British Retail Consortium, "Sales of non-food items dropped 0.5 percent in the three months through November on a like-for-like basis, the biggest decline since the quarter through August 2009."
Even the oil prices buoyed up, stirred by the chilly waves in northern Europe and expectations of rising heating fuel demand. Oil prices in Europe surged to a two-year high as they rose to over $90 per barrel in the beginning of the month, the highest levels since October 2008.
Higher energy costs may further suppress consumption spending, and may also affect the profitability of businesses to an extent.
The very obviously suffering industry, indeed, is the aviation industry. As flights are cancelled or delayed and passengers are accommodated in airports that have almost halted their operations, it comes as no surprise that airlines will be suffering a hit on their profitability.
Owing to this, the shares of British Airways fell 1.5 percent on Monday, while those of German Lufthansa fell by 0.8 percent on the same day. Analysts believe the British Airways to be losing up to £10 million every day due to the chilly weather conditions.
Even though boosts in demand of cold clothing and footwear are also expected, as well as that of winter sports gear, economists fear the relentless winters will hit the economy to some extent.
"The longer the severe weather persists, the greater the impact will be, even allowing for the fact that much of any lost production and construction activity can be made up", said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, a Boton-based economic research and consulting firm.
Natures quite apparently testing the European countries through the excruciating weather conditions. But for a region grappling with some serious economic issues, another blow in the form of unexpected climatic conditions may turn out to be much more than a test.