(by Peter Van Bruggen)
Rising oil prices won’t influence euro zone economic recovery, said Jean- Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank President. He also added he maintained his confidence as the continuing gradual pickup had been “materializing in the past months”.
“I don’t think we need to revise our forecast for growth in Europe,” he said. His optimism goes apart with the fact that oil prices have jumped 43% this year as oil demand grows and supplies from Iraq and Venezuela can be disrupted.
Euro region is anticipated to grow up 1.7% this year, the ECB says. It is higher than 2003 0.4%. Still, euro zone economy went down to 0.5% growth in the second quarter from the first. Japan increased at 1.7%, less than 50% the forecast rate. The U.S. economy went up at a 3% annually, down from 4.5% rate in the first quarter.
Annual inflation forecast grew as oil prices climb higher. The ECB predicts inflation rate to go higher up to 2.1%.
New ECB forecast will be published as soon as September 2.