Since the latter half of 2012, however, the situation has shown signs of stabilizing reflecting the implementation of a number of measures to avert a crisis, as I mentioned earlier.
Nevertheless, since the economic imbalance in the euro area that lies at the root of the crisis has not yet been resolved, due attention should continue to be paid to the possibility that some events might cause a crisis to recur. I see the risks to the outlook for the European economy as still tilted sharply to the downside. 3.