There is a clear division among the EU Member States: countries, with relatively sound public finances and external balances before the crisis, are performing better than countries with internal and external imbalances (slide 3 – General government balance). But over the past couple of months even euro area Member States with sound economies have been affected by rising interest rates.
Moving on to the corporate sector, some weakness in production has remained, but there are prospects for further progress in inventory adjustments – mainly in industries relating to the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  production of durable consumer goods including automobiles, as well as to housing – by the end of the year.