Further ECB rate cuts ‘unlikely’

EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) council member Ernst Welteke said yesterday that the prospects for economic growth in the 12 nations sharing the euro had improved and that there was “no reason” to discuss changes in interest rates.

The outlook for growth “is rather on the better side,” Mr Welteke, who is head of Germany’s Bundesbank, said in a televised interview with Bloomberg News.

“The chances are bigger than the risks. The region’s $8 trillion economy may grow about 2% in 2004.”