In the medium term, the euro area’s prospects rest on crucial factors that should not be overlooked. Allow me to briefly run through them. On the external level, worldwide activity is fated to remain healthy and it is expected to help sustain European exports.
On the internal level, investment should continue to benefit from financial conditions that are, historically speaking, exceptionally favourable in the euro area. It should benefit also from an improvement in businesses’ results and their increased productivity due to past restructuring. Moreover, private consumption is likely to grow in keeping with the growth in real income that is expected to continue.