The decrease was 2.7 per cent in Germany, 5.8 per cent in France and more than 13 per cent in Italy. Euro-area resident households’ expenditure, which was stationary in 2002, showed signs of increasing in the early part of 2003 but then slowed down again in the course of the year.
In the third quarter euro-area and Italian exports staged a recovery, in concomitance with the pick-up in activity in the United States, Japan and the major Asian economies.