But even though we have not wholly overcome all our problems in Europe yet, the situation has stabilised, and economic performance is picking up as well. In June, the Eurosystem macroeconomic staff projected that real GDP would grow by 1.6% this year and 1.7% in both 2017 and 2018.
This would mean that aggregate economic capacity utilisation in the euro area as a whole may come close to normal levels by the end of the projection horizon. The recovery is mainly due to domestic demand, which is benefiting from low energy prices and the expansionary monetary policy.