Taking the year as a whole, real GDP growth – on a working-day adjusted basis – was +1.8% in 2004, marking a significant improvement from the 0.5% seen in 2003. The composition of demand growth in the fourth quarter offered some positive signs with regard to the outlook for economic activity.
Measured on the basis of unit labour costs in the whole economy, the loss of competitiveness recorded between 1999 and 2008 in the countries worst hit by the crisis went from about 9 percentage points in Greece and Portugal to 12 points in Italy, 19 points in Spain, and no less than 37 points in Ireland.