In addition, only a few days ago, the Commission put forward plans to accelerate payments under the European Social Fund for an amount of EUR 19 billion in 2009-2010 alone, an important part of which [(35%)] is destined for Central and Eastern European countries.
That is, stocks may be in equilibrium, but the flow rate will have to slow to keep them there. The resulting slowdown in inventory investment is likely, therefore, to be a significant drag on production in the second half of this year, offsetting, at least in part, the expected rebound in final demand. On the inflation side, there are also important crosscurrents at work.