The European Central Bank will probably have to revise down its economic growth forecast for next year for the 13 countries that use the euro, one of the Governing Council members said today.
"The risks are on the downward side so it is a chance that forecasts have to be revised," ECB Governing Council member Nout Wellink said in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. "Economic growth could be slightly lower than forecast."
"We expect inflation to come down, especially in the second half of next year, but inflation will be higher than expected," Mr Wellink said on the sidelines of a conference. "It is still in our projections that we will be close to the 2 per cent situation" for 2009, he said.
ECB staff projections published in September, when euro zone market turbulence had only been underway for a few weeks, forecast growth to slow to 2.3 per cent in 2008 from an estimated 2.5 per cent in 2007.