28 October 2003, 14:52  EU Commission sees Eurozone 2003 GDP +0.4%

ROME, Oct 28 - The European Commission is set to revise down its forecasts for the eurozone's 2003 and 2004 economic growth rates, Italian news agency Ansa reported on Tuesday Ansa said it had obtained a draft of the commission's autumn economic forecasts which are due to be published on Wednesday. The commission is set to forecast eurozone economic growth of 0.4 percent in 2003, down from a previous forecast of 1.0 percent and would revise the 2004 forecast down to 1.8 percent from 2.3 percent, Ansa said. Ansa said the commission sees Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 0.3 percent in 2003 and 1.5 percent in 2004, compared with the Italian government forecasts of 0.5 percent and 1.9 percent respectively. It sees Italy's deficit at 2.6 percent of GDP this year, rising to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2004. The Italian government has set official deficit targets of 2.5 percent this year and 2.2 percent next year. The commission is due to publish forecasts for all 15 European Union members on Wednesday. A EU commission spokesman declined to comment on the Ansa report.//

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