## How Real Is The Recovery In The Euro Area?

_IMF Blog, February 27, 2014_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [How Real Is The Recovery In The Euro Area?](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2014/02/27/how-real-is-the-recovery-in-the-euro-area)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2014/02/27/how-real-is-the-recovery-in-the-euro-area/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2014/02/27/how-real-is-the-recovery-in-the-euro-area/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2014/02/27/how-real-is-the-recovery-in-the-euro-area/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Reza Moghadam
- Published: February 27, 2014

---

### Key indicators of an upturn
- Rising share prices.
- Lower sovereign bond yields.
- Increased risk appetite.
- An upturn in high-frequency indicators.
- The first signs of positive domestic demand in the euro area.
- The prospect of less drag from fiscal consolidation.

### Major headwinds
- Debt owed by households and businesses remains high, making a rapid pick-up in consumption and investment unlikely.
- Contracting bank lending is holding back recovery.
- Relatively tougher credit conditions in the countries most in need of support are restraining growth.
- Reducing unacceptably high levels of unemployment depends on strong growth.

### Assessment and policy implications
- The recovery is real, but the pace is weak.
- More policy actions are needed to boost growth and foster job creation.
- For more detailed assessment and policy prescriptions, the piece references a video and the IMF book "Jobs and Growth: Supporting the European Recovery," particularly for specifics on growth-enhancing structural reforms.

*Reza Moghadam, February 27, 2014.*

---


## References

- [Jobs and Growth: Supporting the European Recovery](http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2014/EURbook/index.htm)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2014/02/27/how-real-is-the-recovery-in-the-euro-area_