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The economy in the euro area has deteriorated, said today the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, suggesting there might be a further decline in the rate of reference within a week.

"It is clear that there has been a significant decline in the real economy," he said in an interview with U.S. magazine Institutional Investor, broadcast on the Web "What amazes me is that the most recent forecasts are also the most pessimistic. And this is happening globally, not only at the level of the euro area, "he added.


In this context, the leaders of the ECB council meets today to decide its next monetary policy. So far, the guardian of the euro remained silent about their intentions. In late December, Trichet suggested that the ECB could pause in rate cuts, to assess the impact of the previous low.

The European institution reduced its benchmark rate at 1.75 percentage point, to 2.50% between October and December.


"In the current circumstances, it is more important than ever that inflation expectations are well founded," Trichet said to Institutional Investor. This is essential to ensure price stability over the medium term and to help prevent the possible threat of deflation, a danger that threatens not for now, he said.

Meanwhile, it was learned today that unemployment in the euro zone affected in November to 7.8% of the workforce, its highest in almost two years, according to the European Statistics Office Eurostat.