Most importantly, the euro area as a whole has finally left recession. By now, we have seen three consecutive quarters of positive growth, and looking ahead, the outlook for this year and next  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  year is also quite encouraging.
Projections by the ECB suggest that euro-area GDP will grow by just over 1% in 2014 and by 1½% in 2015. And this recovery is not only driven by the “core euro-area” countries such as Germany. Some of the crisis-hit countries have also finally embarked on the path to recovery.