Moreover, the Bank of Japan strived to provide cash to the disaster areas in a prompt and sufficient manner day after day, including holidays, to meet the cash needs of people in those areas. In fact, the amount of cash provided to the affected areas was three times larger than in normal times.
This is not to deny that there has been notable and in some areas impressive progress on the implementation of structural reforms across Europe. However, much remains to be done to meet the challenges most European countries still face. In particular, the EU needs to increase employment and labour utilisation, especially in the context of ageing populations.