The European Central Bank cut its growth and inflation forecasts and President Mario Draghi said the euro area won’t start to shake off its slump until the second half of 2013, leaving the door ajar for further interest-rate reductions.
“Weak activity is expected to extend into next year,” Draghi said Thursday at a press conference in Frankfurt after policymakers left the benchmark rate at a record low of 0.75 percent. “By the second part of the next year, we should see the beginning of a recovery” as global demand strengthens and the ECB’s low rates feed through to the economy, he said.
The 17-nation currency bloc fell back into recession in the third quarter.
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