BT:ECB survey points to eurozone contraction this year
[FRANKFURT] The eurozone economy is set to contract this year, a European Central Bank survey released on Thursday showed, revising down previous forecasts and strengthening the case for the ECB to take further policy action.
The ECB's latest Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) - a poll of 53 economists, academics and other professional forecasters conducted between April 16 and 19 - pointed to a 0.4 per cent contraction this year.
The previous survey three months ago foresaw zero growth.
The latest survey also pointed to inflation of 1.7 per cent this year, down from 1.8 per cent in the prior survey. The ECB targets inflation of close to, but below, 2 per cent.
