One important change concerns multilateral surveillance where the goal is to add a more global perspective to IMF surveillance and to place greater focus on international linkages and spillovers. This is clearly desirable given the ever closer integration of national economies.
Exports and imports averaged 53 per cent of GDP in the period 2000-2009 compared to almost 70 per cent in the euro area as a whole. In 2008, the current account deficit had reached almost 15 per cent of GDP. This unsustainable growth model has been changing through the crisis.