ECB Cut Growth Forecast
Friday, June 5, 2009 15:00
The European Central Bank left the interest rates unchanged at 1%, but sharply downgraded its growth forecasts for the euro zone.
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of ECB, announced that the central bank would now wait to see the impact of its plan to buy €60 billion in covered bonds before making any future adjustments of its policy. The possibility of further interest rate cuts or an expansion of the covered bond purchase scheme to other assets have not been ruled out.
The ECB is now expected the euro zone economy to contract in terms of real gross domestic product by between minus 5.1% and minus 4.1% in 2009 and by between minus 1% and plus 0.4% in 2010.









