ECB Slashes Euro Zone growth Forecast

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it expected a much sharper recession this year in the euro zone than earlier forecast, unveiling details of how it will pump cash into the economy while it kept interest rates on hold.

The bank's new staff forecasts predicted the euro zone economy would now shrink by up to 5.1 percent this year and signaled it would also struggle to grow in 2010 -- forecasting a change in GDP of between -1 percent and +0.4 percent.Inflation would not return to positive territory until the end of this year and was "firmly anchored," ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said, detailing unchanged forecasts for price growth next year of between 0.6 and 1.4 percent

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