3 Direct investment from Texas has greatly helped Mexico, which is on the receiving end of knowhow and advanced production technology. Many Mexican companies, for their part, do business in Texas. Furthermore, a great many trade-related jobs have emerged on both sides of the border. In fact, the Lone-Star State is that with the greatest number of exports-related jobs in the United States.
After the moderate recovery in the second half of the year, real GDP growth in the euro area amounted to 0.4% for 2003 as a whole. In this context, HICP inflation fell from an annual rate of 2.3% in both 2001 and 2002 to 2.1% in 2003.