The European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday unveiled the bank's latest set of macroeconomic projections that revealed an upgrade to the region's growth outlook and a lowering of the inflation projections.
The euro area growth forecast for this year was raised to 1.9 percent from 1.8 percent. The outlook for next year was raised to 1.8 percent from 1.7 percent. The growth projection for 2019 was boosted to 1.7 percent from 1.6 percent.
The risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook are considered to be broadly balanced, Draghi said.
Inflation projection for this year was trimmed to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent. The outlook for next year was slashed to 1.3 percent from 1.6 percent. The forecast for 2019 was cut to 1.6 percent from 1.7 percent.
The downgrade mainly reflected lower oil prices, Draghi said.
Measures of underlying inflation remain low and have yet to show convincing signs of a pick-up, as unutilized resources are still weighing on domestic price and wage formation, he said.
Draghi revealed the projections during his post-decision press conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn and were produced jointly by euro area national central banks and ECB staff.
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