2  Figure 2: Business investment ratio in the euro area Ratio to GDP; investment and GDP are both in real terms 25  14,0  24  13,5  23  13,0  22  12,5  21  12,0  20  11,5  19  11,0 03  05  07  09  11  13  15  17  Total investment, Real (lhs) Private-sector non-residential Investment, Real (rhs) average (2003Q1-2017Q2) Source: ECB  Although it is not a priori clear which benchmark to use, in Figure 2 we compare the development of business investment to that of GDP.
The dark blue line on the right-hand-side shows the ratio of euro area real business investment to real GDP. This has now surpassed the average observed since the early 2000s, represented by the grey line. However, it is still clearly below its pre-crisis peak.