*  *  Introduction  Mr Cohen-Hadad, (Mr President) Ladies and gentlemen, No economy can prosper without healthy, competitive and flourishing small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). They are the foundation on which the European economy is built and constitute more than 99% of all firms in the euro area.
While these pressures are expected to ease over the forecast period, food price inflation usually spills over into wage costs and other constraints, such as electricity and logistics, which will continue to put upward pressure on prices and business input costs. Fuel inflation continues to decline, benefitting from the correction in oil prices on the back of slowing global demand.