1 Altavilla, C., Barbiero, F., Boucinha, M. and Burlon, L. (2020), “The great lockdown: pandemic response policies  and bank lending conditions”, Working Paper Series, No 2465, ECB, Frankfurt am Main, September. 2 Average net asset purchases in 2021Q4 were € billion per month. 3 European Investment Bank (2021), Investment Report 2020/2021: Building a smart and green Europe in the  COVID-19 era.
Moreover, private consumer spending, which had already been muted, was again below the previous year’s level. Inventory investment provided considerable positive growth stimuli as the process of destocking - to the extent identifiable - slowed down markedly. While exporters saw their turnover rise on an annual average, they lost international market shares, not least because of the appreciation of the euro.