Finally, the accumulated macroeconomic imbalances give rise to uncertainty about the strength of the recovery in other major economies. Taken together, there remain downside risks to the outlook for euro area economic activity. Considering price developments, according to Eurostat’s flash estimate, annual HICP inflation decreased to 2.1% in January 2003, from 2.3% in the previous month.
As usual, these estimates are subject to uncertainty and there is no precise breakdown available as yet.