With regard to wages and salaries, the average annual increase in the same period was 2.6% in the euro area and 3.0% in Italy. The poor productivity performance and the cumulative effect of higher wage increases compared to the rest of the euro area over a fairly long period of time have resulted in a substantial loss of price competitiveness.
I think it is extremely important to bolster the great progress that has been made in many countries in the framework of macroeconomic and microeconomic policies and to extend these improvements to those countries that have experienced little improvement so far. The current attractive conditions for commodity exporters should not deceive us into thinking that Latin America has permanently escaped international business cycles.