On the internal level, investment should continue to benefit from financial conditions that are, historically speaking, exceptionally favourable in the euro area. It should benefit also from an improvement in businesses’ results and their increased productivity due to past restructuring. Moreover, private consumption is likely to grow in keeping with the growth in real income that is expected to continue.
After the accession by China to the World Trade Organization in 2001, strategic trade agreements with other emerging markets, particularly in Asia, have been enacted.