PARIS, April 16 - Bank of France governor Jean-Claude Trichet said on Wednesday that world economic growth was likely to pick up in the second half of 2003. Trichet told Europe 1 radio in an interview that the European Central Bank expected inflation to stay contained despite what he described as a significant increase recently in France.
He also said that along with all other central bankers, he believed tax cuts should go hand in hand with reductions in public spending. Trichet refused to comment on the presidency of the European Central Bank. He is slated to take over from Dutchman Wim Duisenberg, but he is also on trial in France over a 1990s bank scandal that has cast a cloud over his ECB prospects.//