At the same time, the overall level of confidence in the euro area has remained high. Economic indicators relating to developments around the turn of the year support the view that economic growth will remain fairly robust. The high overall rate of capacity utilisation, continuing employment creation and lower unemployment should contribute to supporting investment and consumption.
Looking ahead, for this year and 2002, we continue to expect that positive fundamental factors such as favourable real disposable income developments and long-term financing costs will underpin growth in domestic demand. At this juncture, there are no signs that the slowdown in the US economy is having significant and lasting spillover effects on the euro area.