BERLIN, Oct 23 - German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said on Thursday that because of lower than expected growth Germany would not be able to keep its 2004 public sector deficit below the European Union's three percent of GDP limit. "As growth is unlikely either to reach three quarter of a percent this year nor two percent next year...it is clear that three percent cannot be respected next year," Eichel told a news conference. He said Germany would seek to limit the damage to the 2004 budget by stepping up its privatisation efforts. "We must do everything that we can, as the European Commission has asked France, to get back below three percent in 2005. I won't deny that that will require a hard effort," Eichel added. Eichel said Berlin would also have to raise its forecast for Germany's deficit this year to over four percent of gross domestic product from 3.8 percent. "We will have to notify (the European Commission) of over four percent (this year). We can be more precise after the tax estimates. We will notify Brussels in our new stability programme in December. It does not make any sense now to speculate over tenths of a percentage point," Eichel said.///