Lower euro zone interest rates could help bolster economic recovery in the single currency area, the head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said today.
Lower euro zone interest rates could boost growth in the currency area, OECD chief Mr Donald Johnston said.
"The OECD economics department would suggest that some moderation of interest rates might be appropriate... in order to help the recovery," Mr Johnston told CNBC Europe television.
Separately, the Paris-based OECD said it had not finalised its new forecasts for German growth this year, after the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) newspaper said the think-tank had cut its prediction.
The FTD said the OECD had trimmed its forecast for growth in Germany to 1.2 per cent from 1.4 per cent, and that Germany's budget deficit would stay above three percent of gross domestic product in 2005 for a fourth consecutive year, at 3.2 percent.
The paper also cited the OECD as forecasting that France, Italy and Portugal would also bust the European Union's deficit limit of three percent of GDP next year.
An OECD spokesman said the forecasts existed but were no longer valid as they were being revised ahead of publication on May 11th of the OECD's twice-yearly Economic Outlook.
The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its benchmark interest rate at 2.0 per cent for the 10th straight month on April 1st, and President Mr Jean-Claude Trichet made clear the central bank would give no hint on whether more credit easing was in the works.