Weak euro zone growth data raises questions about recovery, Lane says

Lane played down talk by colleagues that the ECB needs to lower its key rate to where it neither stimulates nor slows growth

Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland Philip Lane at the official opening of the bank's new Dublin Docklands headquarters.

The recent flow of relatively weak data on the euro zone economy has raised questions about the bloc's prospects but the European Central Bank still expects the recovery to take hold, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said on Wednesday.

Growth has been weak for most of the past two years on feeble consumption, poor investment flows and a deep recession in industry, forcing the ECB to keep pushing out its forecast for the expected recovery.