While euro area consumer and business confidence indicators declined in September, and most of the early indicators available fell slightly in October too, they were still above their historical averages and continued to point to ongoing sustained growth during the second half of 2007.
Very recently, the IMF staff forecasted real GDP growth in the euro area at 2.5 % in 2007 and 2.1 % in 2008 and most private sector forecasts are close to these numbers.