European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean Claude Trichet said today economic growth in the euro zone was not satisfactory but that historically low interest rates supported growth.
Mr Trichet also said ECB monetary policy was geared towards price stability and the anchoring of inflation expectations.
"You will probably share the view that the growth performance of the euro area cannot be deemed fully satisfactory," Mr Trichet said in a speech at Denmark's central bank.
"But it is equally true to say that the single monetary policy, geared towards price stability and the anchoring of inflation expectations, lends ongoing support to economic activity."
Mr Trichet also said euro zone GDP growth potential was closer to 2 per cent than to 2.5 per cent.
From 1999 to 2004, real GDP in the euro area grew by an average of 1.9 per cent per annum. Looking back over the last 10 years, the average annual growth rate in the 12 countries that today form the euro area has been 2.1 per cent.