Second, economic adjustment within the euro area is continuing. This is most visible in the reduction of large current-account deficits driven by partly permanent declines in domestic absorption and gains in competitiveness, but is also apparent in gradually rising wages and domestic demand in surplus countries. Internal and external adjustment has farther to go, and it will have to be sustained over time to see an impact on stocks of domestic and external liabilities. The speed and the short-term economic costs of the adjustment depend on the degree of wage and price flexibility within economies and on their capacity to.
