2.4 The impact on world trade from these events has been pronounced, and the World Trade Organisation predicted that the volume of global merchandise trade would contract by 9 per cent this year, compared to an annual average growth rate in trade in excess of 6 per cent since 1990.
As I argued last week in Ljubljana, and as the crisis has shown, the benefits of the single currency can only be fully reaped if we have policies and institutions at national and European level that ensure it works for everyone.