As I mentioned earlier, in the first half of last year, consumer sentiment became cautious, reflecting the slowdown in the global economy -mainly the emerging economies -- and a subsequent decline in stock prices, as well as irregular weather. However, it has improved recently, partly reflecting a rise in stock prices, and private consumption has started to overcome the weakness observed before (Chart 5).
Ireland's public national reserve fund has assets of 7.5% of GDP, and the Irish government is committed to setting aside contributions equal to 1% of GDP up to 2025. Belgium has set aside revenues from UMTS licenses for such a fund. Sweden is obviously well advanced in this respect with a pension trust fund equivalent to 25% of GDP.