“After the pandemic, the Eurozone recorded one of the highest recoveries in its history, thanks also to broad budgetary support and monetary policy,” said ECB President Christine Lagarde.

Now, the Eurozone is faced with a sharp rise in inflation due to higher energy costs, 'bottlenecks' and the normalization of demand, as economies reopen.

But these events did not result in "a significant change in the international importance of the euro", according to Lagarde.

The euro's share of international currency reserves rose in 2021 by half a percentage point to 20.6%, and the euro's share of international debt issues rose by almost three percentage points to 24.6%.