It is certainly true that reaping the fruit of success comes with a time lag. But experience from Germany – which ten years ago was nicknamed the “sick man” of Europe – shows that the benefits will come to the fore sooner or later.
And lately, growth data from the euro area have been indicating that a silver lining is appearing on the horizon, Macroeconomic rebalancing in the euro area is underway. Importantly, the euro area left recession, with 0.1% growth in the third quarter. In, Italy and Greece contraction slowed down, while Spain joined Portugal and Ireland in leaving the recession behind.