The fact the euro has had a rocky ride since its launch 18 months ago - down in value by almost 19 per cent - has long coloured the perception of the currency outside and within Europe.
It is widely accepted that the new single currency represents an experiment that has, so far, gone badly wrong, and should be attempted by other regional blocs interested in the idea with only extreme caution. But judging the euro on the basis of the value of its currency alone is fast becoming unreliable.
While the euro's exchange rate against the United States dollar continues to flounder at significantly below US$1 per euro, other indicators are showing just how beneficial the introduction of the euro has been.
Indeed, the growing health of the European economy has begun to set financial markets alight, and last month the European central bank reported that for the first time since its records began - just prior to the launch of the euro in January 1999 - investors had started pumping more money into the 11-nation euroland than they were taking out.
Total net capital inflows surged to 29 billion euros (about HK$216.2 billion) compared to a 15.3 billion euro current account deficit, and analysts are now saying that capital flow trends are becoming increasingly less negative for the single currency.
For example, Germany - regarded as a proxy for the whole of euroland - seems to have stopped haemorrhaging capital altogether. Indeed, net inflows into Germany reached 48 billion euros, the highest level in seven years according to the Bundesbank, as flows generated from German bank borrowing and foreign deposits in German banks overtook German bank lending and German bank deposits overseas.
