The eurozone's economy will likely grow at 1.6 per cent next year, according to a group of independent economists.
The European Economic Network (Euren), a group of six European economic institutes including Oxford Economic Forecasting, said today it expected the eurozone economy to grow 0.8 per cent this year.
The forecast for next year is slightly lower than the European Commission's official forecast of 1.8 per cent growth for 2003.
The US economy would grow likely by 2.4 per cent from 2.3 per cent, said Euren in presenting its latest report on economic forecasts.
Euren also said euro zone inflation would fall to 1.8 per cent in 2003 from 2.4 per cent this year.
Meanwhile, the Kiel-based IfW institute, one of Germany's six top economic think tanks, cut its forecasts on Wednesday for economic growth in Germany and the wider euro zone for 2003, and said it saw Germany's budget deficit rising.
The IfW said it expected Germany's economy to grow by 0.2 per cent this year, compared to a previous 0.4 per cent forecast made in September and by 1.0 per cent in 2003, down from a previous 1.8 percent forecast.
The institute kept its growth forecast for the wider euro zone at 0.8 per cent for this year, but cut it for next year to per cent compared to the 2.3 per cent it forecast previously.
The IfW predicted that Germany's budget deficit this year would rise well above the European Union's 3.0 per cent limit to 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product compared to the 3.1 per cent it predicted in September. It saw the deficit next year at 3.0 per cent of GDP, up from 2.3 per cent forecast earlier.