Finance and Economic

European Central Bank council member Yves Mersch said the economic recovery in the 16 nations that share the euro will probably be uneven.

“Available data suggest the economic recovery process in the euro zone has started, though the upswing will most likely remain erratic,” Mersch said in a report from Luxembourg’s central bank, which he heads. “Risks to this outlook are balanced in a climate that continues to be marked by uncertainty.”

The ECB on March 4 left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 1 percent and said it will tighten the terms of some long-term loans to banks as it gradually withdraws emergency lending measures used to fight the financial crisis. Mersch today reiterated ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet’s statement that the key rate remains “appropriate free 3-in-1 credit report.”

The ECB’s Governing Council “will continue to gradually unwind non-standard measures” and “absorb liquidity over time to effectively counter any remaining risks to price stability in the medium to long term,” Mersch said.

Turning to Greece’s budget crisis, Mersch said the conditional support pledged by the European Union together with the measures announced by the Greek government “should succeed in calming the concerns of the markets.”

The fiscal situation in some euro-area nations has “clearly” contributed to the euro’s decline against the dollar, he said.

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