Eu: strong euro weakens competitiveness

According to a European Commission estimate, during the third quarter of last year exchange rate appreciation on the monetary market has subtracted approximately two percentage points from the competitiveness of euro-zone producers.

During the period under examination, competitiveness in the euro zone also dropped by about 10%, although it remained only two percentage points lower than the 1980-2002 average.

Compared to the currencies of 12 other industrialized countries, the effective nominal exchange rate of the European currency appreciated by roughly 4% in the fourth quarter.

(Source: Reuters)