Finance ministers told of buoyancy in euro zone growth

Stronger-than-expected growth in the euro area is likely to lead to an upward revision of Commission economic forecasts, the EU's Economic Affairs Commissioner, Mr Pedro Solbes, yesterday hinted to euro-11 finance ministers. Ministers of the 11, meeting before their monthly Ecofin, had only the most cursory discussion of the fall in the value yesterday morning of the euro which was being seen as an unrepresentative blip due to light trading in the Far East.

The meeting decided not to issue a statement on the euro, largely on the basis that when they do, irrespective of the message, the result is decline in the currency.

Those few ministers who were willing to comment insisted that the fundamentals in the euro-area economy of low inflation and significant growth would eventually be reflected in an appreciation of the currency. In the long run, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said the value of a currency reflected the underlying strength of the economy it represented.

The new Austrian Minister, Mr Karl-Heinz Grasser, said the decline in the value of the euro was less a reflection on the European economy than the unexpected strength of both the US and Asian economies.

The euro-11 did, however, discuss what member states should do with windfall gains in exchequer receipts that some member states are benefiting from because of the upturn in growth. A strong consensus was that such gains should be spent on reducing the overall level of states' indebtedness, rather than expanding social programmes - a message particularly directed at the Dutch and French.