European Central Bank executive board member Ms Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said the bank's growth projections remain largely unchanged despite the euro's rapid rise, and it is not considering a rate cut at present.
Interest rates are appropriate and any change to monetary policy is "currently not an issue", she said last night.
She declined to comment on the possibility of ECB intervention in currency markets to clip the euro's wings, but said the single currency's gains since the G7 statement over the weekend should not be interpreted too quickly.
"We will see how exchange rates develop in the coming weeks and months."
Currency markets have apparently shrugged off the G7's warning about excessive volatility in exchange rates, pushing the euro higher against the US dollar.
Tumpel-Gugerell said though the euro has appreciated some 4 per cent trade-weighted basis since the ECB's autumn forecasts, external demand has risen more strongly than expected.
"The projections for GDP growth therefore remain largely unchanged."
She said recent economic forecasts suggest economic growth in the euro zone of 0.4-0.5 per cent for 2003, 1.6-1.9 per cent this year and 2.1-2.5 per cent in 2005.
"These expectations coincide with the ECB's calculations," she said.