EU officials speak about euro strength and monetary policy ahead of Eurogroup meeting

FXStreet (Łódź) - Ahead of the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers, which kicks off today in the European afternoon, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem remarked that the continuing strength of the euro was considered by some as excessive. He was speaking in Brussels alongside OECD secretary general Angel Gurria, who pointed out that growth in the area remained fragile.

Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch Finance Minister, urged EU Member States to boost productivity by implementing structural reforms. Structural reforms are necessary to modernize and strengthen the European welfare state, he stressed. The Eurogroup president also suggested that the EU banking union was being formed at “unprecedented speed.”

Meanwhile, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretary general Angel Gurria said that the recovery in the Eurozone could already be seen but that growth remained weak and lending conditions tight. He indicated that the impact of the US Federal Reserve's reduction in the pace of bond purchases was still “largely unknown” and that “ECB monetary policy nears diminishing returns.”

Moreover, Gurria backed Dijsselbloem's call for structural reforms, suggesting that without them economic growth would remain slack.

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