Blessed at the start with a very low inflation rate in the euro area, the common currency soon faced a series of one-off shocks. The biggest impact initially came from sharply rising oil prices and later from a rapidly weakening exchange rate, which led to a sharp rise in import prices.
必须承认，欧洲央行在最初几年经历了"火的洗礼。"欧元开始时恰逢通货膨胀率很低，但很快就碰到了一系列突发问题。开始时最猛烈的冲击来自油价的一路上涨，后来又碰到了汇率的快速下跌和由此带来的进口价格上涨。2000年底，油价已经涨到了20世纪90年代初以来从未有过的水平。