To illustrate the importance of the external sector for the performance of the euro area economy, Chart 8 shows results from a simulation of a negative foreign shock in the ECB’s in-house model for the euro area economy, the New Area-Wide Model II.
Financial exclusion is not caused only by constraints on the supply side of the financial market. Many people are discouraged from participation in formal sector financial markets because of a lack of knowledge, or misinformation, about financial products and insufficient knowledge about their rights as consumers of these products.