2  BIS Review 64/2006  A lesser-known feature is that trade in services with partners inside and outside the euro area has also increased as a percentage of GDP in recent years. Intra-euro area exports and imports of services increased from about 5% of GDP in 1998 to around 6.5% in 2005.
Proportionately, this represents a slightly higher increase than extra-euro area exports and imports of services, which increased from about 7.5% of GDP in 1998 to around 9.5% in 2005. Trade in services can rise much further when the single market for services is completed.