Domestic demand has made negative contributions to GDP growth for more than a year and is likely to do so also in the second half of 2012 and well into the first half of 2013. This leaves net exports, which are set to benefit from a gradual recovery of global demand, as the only positive contributor to GDP growth in the EU for some more quarters to come. Private consumption, by far the largest component of domestic demand, is expected to stagnate in the EU and to decrease in the euro area in 2013, as real.
