Domestic final demand increased at a rate of 4 per cent in the first nine months of 2003 compared with the same period in the preceding year. This continued high growth in domestic final demand was the result of increases in consumption as well as fixed capital formation. The growth in real final consumption expenditure by households also remained strong throughout 2003.
There is never a summer without news of wildfires in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece or the south of France. Last week, Italy declared a state of emergency in five northern regions over the worst drought in 70 years. Even more alarmingly, a recent study shows that the climate in Portugal and Spain is the driest it has ever been in the past 1,200 years.