LONDON, July 11 - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder issued a veiled call for the European Central Bank (ECB) to intervene in the currency markets to reduce the value of the euro and help European exports in an interview in Friday's edition of the Financial Times. "I assume the intelligent people in the leadership of the ECB discuss the question every day of whether they have done enough in the context of the dollar/euro exchange rate to maintain the
competitiveness of exports from Europe," he said in the interview. Schroeder's action call came hours after the ECB held its benchmark interest rate at two percent. The bank has not intervened in the currency markets for more than two years. But Schroeder pinned part of the blame for Germany's economic malaise on the strong euro, saying it was hitting the country's exporters and hindering growth. ECB president Wim Duisenberg said after the rate decision the bank had already made a "significant" contribution to fostering economic growth with recent cuts, and urged Europe's leaders to deliver necessary reforms.
Criticising policymakers for their "lack of ambition", Duisenberg said they had to press ahead with overhauling pensions, health and labour markets and stick to the European Union's budget deficit rules. The ECB, holding rates steady on Thursday, said it expected to keep its policy stance unchanged for a considerable time as the worst of the economic downturn may be over. Duisenberg sounded more optimistic than a month ago that the euro zone economy would gradually start picking up by the year end, noting that economic sentiment may be bottoming out. At 0038 GMT, the dollar had declined moderately against the euro with the European currency buying $1.1338.//