Brussels, 09/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, welcomed the fact that oil prices were "relaxed", which was good for the world economy, he informed the press on Monday in Basle, following a meeting of G10 government leaders (in which Alan Greenspan, president of the US Federal Reserve was also participating). Trichet indicated that global economic growth was dynamic and the economic was progressing very rapidly but he expected a slight slowdown in 2005.
Questioned about the rise of the Euro against the dollar, Trichet affirmed that, "the recent moves, which tend to be brutal on the exchange markets between the Euro and the US dollar, are not welcome from the standpoint of the ECB".
On the same day, Michael Rogowski, president of the German employers organisation (BDI) asserted that a dollar that had fallen to 1.30 euros was a threat and when it was between 1.35-1.40 the situation became intolerable for European exporters.