© Dukascopy
|
- Mario Draghi, President of the ECB
The European Central Bank unexpectedly decreased the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent on Thursday and new president Mario Draghi told the single currency union may slide into recession at the end of 2011.
"What we are observing now is ... slow growth heading toward a mild recession by year-end," Draghi told a news conference. "A significant downward revision to forecasts and projections for average real GDP growth in 2012 are very likely," he added.
"We would expect that there is still a good opportunity to proceed with a further [25 basis point] cut in interest rates at the Dec. 8 meeting," said Julian Callow, managing director and chief European economist at Barclays Capital.