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Nakitte

Institutional research & analysis

Source: ECB

CENTRAL BANK

Economic BulletinJune 25, 2026

The narrowing of the euro area current account balance in 2025

This box examines the narrowing of the euro area current account surplus from 2.7% of GDP in 2024 to 1.7% in 2025. The decline was driven mainly by services trade and income flows and particularly by developments vis-à-vis the United States and China. For the United States, this reflected the role of US multinational enterprises, whose euro area affiliates supported goods exports but generated larger services and income deficits. Imports from China grew, especially in machinery and manufactur...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 25, 2026

What has kept goods inflation low? The role of the import exposure to China

This box analyses the impact of prices of imports from China on euro area goods inflation. Inflation for China-exposed goods has been persistently lower than total goods inflation, with model-based estimates suggesting that shocks which bring down the prices of imports from China by 10% in exposed sectors reduce inflation by 0.1-0.7 percentage points in key categories such as furniture and appliances. A historical decomposition estimated over the period between January 2002 and April 2026 sho...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 25, 2026

Tracking euro area labour market developments through restructuring announcements

This box examines whether large-scale restructuring announcements recorded in the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) compiled by Eurofound contain economically meaningful signals of euro area labour market dynamics. We construct a net job changes indicator, demonstrating that its lagged values contain information on episodes of below-average employment performance ahead of official data releases. While ERM coverage is limited by construction, focusing on large firms and manufacturing-intens...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 25, 2026

How US financial markets react to geopolitical shocks hitting oil supply

This box assesses how energy supply disruptions associated with geopolitical shocks are transmitted to US financial markets, leveraging on the indicator developed by Iacoviello and Tong (2026). Whereas negative geopolitical events typically reduce output, they are ambiguous with respect to inflation. However, those that also constrain global oil supply are inflationary and lead to deeper recessions. In these cases, stock prices fall more persistently, the dollar appreciates markedly, and risk...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 24, 2026

Higher oil prices from the war in the Middle East: assessing the headwinds for euro area growth

Oil supply disruptions related to the war in the Middle East have triggered a sharp rise in oil prices, posing headwinds for euro area economic activity. This box assesses the macroeconomic effects of the shock using a Bayesian vector autoregressive model with identified geopolitical oil supply shocks. The results suggest that supply-driven oil price increases associated with geopolitical events have a persistent negative effect on euro area growth, operating through lower private consumption...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 23, 2026

State aid in the EU: an evolving landscape

State aid expenditure in the EU has risen in recent years against the background of economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and, most recently, the crisis in the Middle East, as well as a global resurgence of interventionist industrial policy. While traditionally aimed at addressing market failures and achieving policy objectives like regional cohesion and environmental transition, State aid has increasingly shifted towards supporting industrial...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 23, 2026

Five years of the ECB Survey of Monetary Analysts: evolution and insights

The Survey of Monetary Analysts (SMA) is a valuable information set for understanding the expectations of financial market participants regarding monetary policy and macroeconomic developments in the euro area. This article reviews the evolution of the SMA over the past five years, highlighting key development milestones, including changes to the panel, questionnaire and analytical use of the survey. It explains how SMA data enhance regular monetary policy assessments and the understanding of...

ECB1 min read
Economic BulletinJune 22, 2026

AI and the US labour market: effects on employment growth

The adoption of AI is reshaping the US labour market, with its impact on employment growth varying across occupations. AI has led to a job reallocation, particularly disadvantaging occupations with a high risk of AI substitution compared to those with low substitution risk. An econometric analysis confirms that AI has widened the gap in employment growth between employment in high-risk occupations and low-risk occupations between 2019 and 2025. However, this divergence in employment growth ha...

ECB1 min read