History has shown that the companies that are nimble are the ones that are best poised to thrive over time. Policy-makers can help in these efforts by encouraging economic flexibility. This means allowing the necessary adjustments to take place and not frustrating flows of investment or labour from one region to another.
Looking further ahead, however, the information available so far indicates that HICP inflation would fall below 2% in the course of 2005 if no further adverse shocks occurred and it does not suggest that stronger underlying inflationary pressures are building up in the euro area.