Through the end of 1998, the economy continued to grow more rapidly than can be currently accommodated on an ongoing basis, even with higher, technology-driven productivity growth. Growth has continued to shrink the pool of workers willing to work but without jobs.
A decline in the price level and the rapid progress of price differentiation vis-à-vis customers would make it more difficult for the central bank to set a targeted inflation rate and substantially impair the reliability of price indices.