However, in reality, the rule was not applied stringently, partly due to policy responses on the fiscal front after the Lehman shock, and fiscal discipline gradually became loose. As a result, a difference between countries with strong competitiveness, including Germany, and those with weak competitiveness, including Greece, became increasingly large, and trade imbalance bloated.
We always look through transitory changes in euro area HICP inflation. As in the euro area, underlying price pressures in Spain remain subdued. So isn’t it time to withdraw the stimulus measures? We anticipate that the recovery will be reflected in hard data and not only in confidence indicators. We have more confidence in the economic outlook.