In the fall of 1999, the recovery in Euroland is back on track. The turnaround was caused by the improvement in the world economy. After exports had been depressed in the past winter due to the weak demand in the crisis countries particularly in Asia, the impulses from abroad have picked up...

Stage Three of the European Monetary Union (EMU) will start on January 1, 1999. The new currency area, for which the name "Euroland" has been coined, will comprise 11 countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. The...

The economic recovery in the euro area lost momentum in 2004. After a strong increase during the first half, real GDP rose at an annual rate of less than 1 percent in the following two quarters. Overall capacity utilization, which had increased in the first half of 2004 for the first time in...

The economic recovery in the euro area has accelerated in the course of 2004. During the first two quarters, real GDP rose at an annual rate of slightly over 2 percent, after about 1½ percent in the second half of 2003. For the first time since 2001, overall capacity utilization increased....

Economic activity in the euro area is recovering. In the second half of 2003, real GDP grew at an annualized rate of roughly 1½ percent. In contrast with other large industrialized countries, economy-wide capacity utilization has not yet increased. Private consumption has remained the major...