The euro area countries have in recent years greatly strengthened their ties and correspondingly expanded the basis of trust on which they rest: the single monetary policy, with common fiscal rules, now with a banking union and a single banking supervision and soon with a common capital market.
Turning to the outlook, exports are projected to continue to trend up mainly in IT-related goods amid the ongoing recovery in overseas economies, especially in the U.S. and East Asia. However, the pace of recovery is likely to become somewhat slower in the future than at present, as the effects from overseas restocking dissipate.