That objective was not quantified, however. Achievement of the objective was said to be “predicated on maintaining a firm exchange rate vis-à-vis other low inflation countries” (Central Bank Annual Report 1996) – so there was an exchange rate objective, though again unquantified.
With the euro area accounting for just under one sixth of the global economy, this in turn acted as a significant drag on global growth. The second factor is that, other things equal, history suggests that recoveries from financial crises typically take longer than those from other types of business cycle events.