Economic confidence in the 17-country strong eurozone rose in August, with the strongest increase recorded in the Netherlands, according to new figures from the European statistics office Eurostat.

Confidence improved in 14 of the 17 eurozone countries and in all the five largest, taking the index to 95.2 points, Eurostat said. Despite a 5.2 increase, the Netherlands still remains below average on 92.7. In Germany the rise was 3.3 points, taking the local index to 103.8 points.

Other figures out on Friday from Eurostat show that eurozone inflation averaged 1.3% in August, down 0.3 percentage point on July. The figures are preliminary and Eurostat has not yet released its calculations for the Netherlands. In July, Dutch inflation was twice the eurozone rate.

Eurostat also calculates the Dutch unemployment rate to have reached 7%, up from 5.3% a year ago. This remains well below the eurozone average of 12%.