3  There has also been debate regarding other potential channels through which global factors could affect domestic inflation – for example, whether measures of foreign resource utilization play an important independent role.
The share of extra-euro area exports and imports of goods rose by about 9 percentage points between 1998 and 2006, to around 33% of GDP. Over the same period, the share of extra-euro area exports and imports of services increased by about 2 percentage points, to almost 10% of GDP.