The improvement in the market situation was also helped by the progress made by euro area governments towards instituting more binding common fiscal rules and strengthening the financial firewalls EFSF and ESM and by the progress in fiscal consolidation and economic reform in many countries.
While the outlook for energy prices is uncertain, on the basis of current energy prices and the higher quotations  BIS Review 91/2006  1  on futures markets, overall inflation rates are likely to increase again towards the end of the year and in early 2007.