But we expect this divergence to diminish over the course of this year and next year. Therefore with the strong commitment of the Eurosystem to internal price stability, there is clear potential for a stronger external value of the euro.
BIS Review 82/1999  4  Recent price changes in the euro area have been affected by higher oil prices, which have fed through quickly to the energy component of the HICP. Nevertheless, inflation for the euro area as measured by the HICP has remained close to 1% since the fourth quarter of 1998 and hence has been consistent with price stability.