European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Mr Pedro Solbes said today this week's terror attacks on the United States could see Europe's economy undershoot his recent 2001 growth forecast.
Mr Solbes said the likely economic impact of the attacks had reduced the chances of a US economic recovery in the third quarter. He also said the attacks made him more pessimistic about European growth, which he had already been expecting to undershoot the 2.8 per cent rate forecast in April by the European Commission.
"The possibility of recovery in the third quarter in the US will be more reduced," he said, in response to a question.
"I am not speaking about recession, I am speaking about a clearly positive rate of growth which will probably not reach the 2 percent that we had expected".
His comments came a day after a report showed the euro zone economy ground to a near-halt in the second quarter of the year, expanding by only 0.1 per cent from the previous quarter and 1.7 per cent from a year earlier.
Mr Solbes said in a speech delivered earlier that European finance officials were ready to provide any help needed to the United States and that all necessary steps had been taken to ensure the smooth running of the financial markets.