Economic squeeze in Europe has hit rock bottom: ECB
The president of the European Central Bank said Saturday that the economic squeeze has "hit rock bottom," telling Italian television that he expects a "gradual revival" over the course of 2009.
"Going by our calculations, just published, during the second and third quarters of this year, we hit rock bottom," he told RAI 1 on the sidelines of an economic forum attended by political leaders at Lake Como, Italy.
The eurozone economy contracted 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2008, and finance ministers from France and Belgium called again this week for the ECB to consider measures that would boost economic activity when it determines the level of interest rates for the 15-nation zone.
The ECB left its main lending rate unchanged at 4.25 percent on Thursday and Trichet's comments at a subsequent press conference implied it would remain steady for some time.
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