High oil prices are actually helping many euro zone companies at the same time that they are slowing down the area's economic growth. That is because of the increased spending power of oil-producing nations.

According to a study by the European Central Bank, published in its July Monthly Bulletin, euro zone exporters have benefitted more than those in the US from increased sales to the countries that sell us our oil. But for that, the damaging effects of higher energy prices would have been even greater. The ECB has discovered that between 2001 and 2004 the nations that make up the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries increased their imports from the euro zone by 22%. There was a 34% rise in euro area imports into the former Soviet Union territories in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

As a result, euro zone market share increased in both those oil-exporting regions while that of the US fell. In the past when oil prices were high, producers put their money in banks. This time they have increased imports to the euro zone's advantage.