European Central Bank President Mr Jean-Claude Trichet today said the euro zone economy is set to recover and inflation is expected to slow this year.
Mr Trichet's message in his quarterly testimony before the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament was little changed from the ECB's February 5th statement following its decision to leave interest rates at their record low of 2 per cent.
"The evidence . . . has made us more confident that the recovery did indeed begin in the second half of 2003 and has strengthened our expectation of upswing in economic activity.
The outlook for price developments is in line with the ECB's definition of price stability, an inflation rate of below but close to 2 per cent, he said.