This will only become more essential in an ever globalising world. These factors have led to real economic benefits for Germany. Its intra-euro area trade increased from around 25% of GDP in 1999 to almost 40% of GDP in 2010, while its extra-euro area trade increase by more than 20 percentage points in the same period.
This holds true for many European countries – not least for Germany, which ranks 106th in the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum on the question “How  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  many procedures are required to start a business?” – alongside countries like Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Chad.