March 2011

A very relative improvement

The crisis in the euro area continues on the same tone: there is no lasting solution on the short-term horizon, although euro area governments consistently manage to find the means of averting extreme risks. However, the ECB’s latest measures, aimed at easing the pressure on the banks, have resulted in a relative improvement and so far averted a credit crunch. But the ongoing crisis, sparking tighter financing conditions and successive austerity plans, will inevitably weigh on economic activity, particularly in the euro area. Growth would accordingly remain sluggish in the industrialised nations in 2012 – some even being in recession – ahead of only a slight rebound in 2013.

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