Less than a year later, following renewed volatility in the EMS, the fluctuation margins for the bilateral EMS central rates were widened to +/- 15% in order to put a stop to financial market speculation.
Following two years of annual contractions, private-sector fixed capital formation grew by 1.2% in 2017 and by 9.9% in the final quarter of the year, mainly due to expenditure on transport equipment and machinery. It is still too early to tell whether this unexpected increase is the beginning of a positive trend.