15 / 26  BIS central bankers' speeches  5.2 Persistent economic divergences in Europe The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was expected to foster greater macroeconomic convergence on the basis of nominal and fiscal indicators of harmonisation, that is, inflation, long-term interest rates, exchange rate stability, the fiscal deficit, and the government debt to-GDP-ratio.
However, the euro area sovereign debt crisis has exposed trends of economic divergence. While there has been nominal convergence of inflation and interest rates, there is still evidence of divergence in relation to GDP per capita, unemployment rates, and current account balances.