To put it differently, over the period following the start of EMU, half of the countries in the sample experienced, on average, weaker economic conditions, while the other half had stronger pressures on economic resources.
Similarly the respective US and the UK ratios were 62 per cent and 44 per cent and by 2012 they had increased to 107 per cent and 89 per cent. The speed with which countries ran into fiscal constraints and the need to rein in these deficits focused increasing attention on monetary policy to provide a stimulus to growth and employment.