What history over the long term makes apparent is that the mild-inflation regime has not come to an end, and we should say that the potential dangers of secular stagnation and Japanification have not yet passed. Let me finish on a more positive note. There is no need for pessimism even during periods of Japanification.
In the wake of slower global growth, the euro-area economy has lost some of its previous dynamism. World trade is no longer growing at double-digit rates. Caution in investment, as well as in consumption spending, is being reflected in receding industrial production; the July increase is not yet to be regarded as a firm signal of a turnaround.