Euro area emerging from crisis

The euro area is making its way out of the crisis as the signs of economic recovery are becoming more visible, finance ministers of the 17-member group said in a statement here Friday night after an extraordinary meeting. The debate during the meeting was focused on the draft budgetary plans for 2014 and the overall situation in the euro area. The statement noted that "years of fiscal consolidation in the euro area are now bearing fruit. The government deficit, already close to 3 percent of GDP in 2013, is expected to fall below it in 2014." "Both the debt and deficit projections for the euro area are considerably more positive than for other major economies, including the United States and Japan," it added. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup, told a press conference that "Europe's challenges are structural and we have to address them in a structural way." "Progress on public finances has been impressive. Fiscal consolidation efforts are now producing first results," Dijsselbloem added