26 January 2001, 15:41  DAVOS: Fabius: Fed rate cuts shouldn't affect "independent" ECB

By Liz Alderman, BridgeNews
Davos--Jan. 26--French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday that the European Central Bank is "independent" and should not be affected by changes to U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy. He added that although the German Finance Ministry advocated lowering Germany's 2001 growth forecast, France would not need to cut is 2001 economic growth outlook.
* * * Asked by reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum here whether a potential sharp interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week would bring additional pressure to bear on the ECB to cut rates, Fabius said Fed and ECB activity were "independent."
Fabius also said there was no reason for France to cut its 2001 forecast of 3.1% gross domestic product growth in the wake of German Finance Minister Hans Eichel's request that Germany's cut its GDP growth forecast to 2.6% from 2.75%.
Germany's annual economic report will nonetheless retain the 2.75% growth forecast for 2001, according to reports. End Copyright 2001 Bridge Information Systems Inc. All rights reserved.

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